*« 


4^.  I -'or 

PRESENTED  TO  THE  LIBRABY 

OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINKRY 

BY 

Pfofessoit  }^^t\vy  van  Dyke,  D.D.,  IiIi.D. 

C 


Jacob  Harris  Patton,  A.  M.,   Ph.  D, 


A  POPULAR  HISTORY 

OF 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


BY 

JACOB   HARRIS  PATTON,   A.M.,   Ph.D. 

AUTHOR  OF 
FOUR  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY  ; 
NATURAL  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES; 
POLITICAL  ECONOMY  FOR  AMERICAN  YOUTH  ; 
POLITICAL  PARTIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  ; 
WHICH  RELIGION  SATISFIES  THE  WANTS  OF 
THE   SOUL?   ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW    YORK 
R.   S.   MIGHILL  AND   COMPANY,   Publishers 

70  FIFTH   AVENUE 
1900 


Copyright,  190CS 
R.  S.  MiGHiLL  &  Company. 


THE  AUTHOR   RESPECTFULLY   DEDICATES  THIS   HISTORY 

TO    THE 

MINISTRY,    THE   ELDERSHIP   AND   THE   PRIVATE   MEMBERS 

OF    THE 

PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH. 


PREFACE. 

This  volume  is  designed  to  trace  concisely  but  clearly 
the  History  and  Principles  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
from  the  time  of  Henry  VHI.  to  the  close  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  1899.  The  effort  has  been  to  present 
the  facts  in  such  history,  and  note  their  influence;  mean- 
while, to  give  special  attention  to  the  all-important  phase 
of  the  inner  Christian  life  of  the  Church.  In  ascertain- 
ing the  knowledge  in  respect  to  the  latter  subject,  atten- 
tion has  been  directed,  as  occasion  required,  to  the  lives 
and  labors  of  leading  men  in  the  ministry,  as  well  as  lay- 
men, around  whom  clustered  influences  for  good,  that 
often  extended  far  and  wide  in  their  respective  communi- 
ties, and  even  to  the  Church  at  large. 

The  author  has  availed  himself  of  highly  important 
and  original  documents  pertaining  to  the  Congregational- 
ists  and  Presbyterians  during  the  Colonial  period.  {See 
authorities  consulted.) 

When  preparing  his  "Four  Hundred  Years  of  Amer- 
ican History,"  the  attention  of  the  author  was  often 
drawn  to  the  influence  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  during 
the  last  half  century  of  the  Colonial  times  and  also  during 
the  current  growth  of  our  national  life.  This  influence 
was  felt  upon  the  domestic  and  Christian  as  well  as  upon 
the  political  life  of  the  people.  In  our  country,  governed 
as  it  is  by  representatives  elected  by  the  people  them- 
selves, the  moral  connection  between  political  and  church 
life  is  consistent  and  peculiarly  intimate.  It  therefore 
comes  within  the  scope  of  this  history  to  trace  the  influ- 
ences, good  or  bad,  of  the  events  and  policies,  whereby 
the  condition  of  public  affairs  has  incidentally  aided  the 
progress  of  the  Church,  and  sometimes  had  a  retarding 
eiTect,  as  in  the  case  of  war  or  of  financial  or  industrial 
disturbances  whereby  all  the  citizens  were  more  or  less 
affected.    • 

The  rule  has  been  to  record  only  those  facts  which  have 


VI  PREFACE. 

had  influence,  and  to  present  them  in  such  fulness  that 
the  reader  may  easily  see  their  bearings  upon  the  sub- 
ject in  hand,  and  also  to  mould  the  history  into  a  consecu- 
tive narrative,  in  order  that  the  transition  from  one  sub- 
ject to  another  may  be  easily  seen. 

The  reader  will  learn  from  its  inner  Christian  life  that 
it  has  always  been  a  missionary  church;  that  its  prin- 
ciples of  religious  liberty  repudiate  absolutely  the  as- 
sumption of  civil  authorities  to  interfere  in  any  respect 
whatever  in  religious  affairs,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
confine  themselves  strictly  to  protect  the  religious  rights 
of  all  the  citizens,  without  reference  to  matters  of  their 
belief. 

This  volume  is  written  in  the  hope  of  inducing  intelli- 
gent Presbyterians  of  both  sexes,  especially  the  middle- 
aged  and  the  younger  portion,  to  become  familiar  with 
the  remarkable  history  of  their  own  church,  in  its  early 
trials,  and  the  great  leading  principles  of  its  church  pol- 
ity, by  which  the  rights  of  the  people — the  church  mem- 
bers— have  ever  been  recognized  and  respected,  and  that 
while  most  strenuous  in  its  adherence  to  the  essential 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  yet  in  respect  to  non-essentials 
ever  liberal. 

The  illustrations  consist  of  the  portraits  of  some  of 
the  Presbyterian  worthies  who  did  so  much  to  promote 
the  cause  of  Christianity  by  their  labors  within  their  own 
Church.  They  were  the  men  who,  being  efficiently  sup- 
ported by  brother  ministers  of  lesser  note,  were  enabled, 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  and  the  first  half  of 
this,  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  present  benevolent  in- 
stitutions of  the  Church,  which  to-day  are  so  grandly 
exerting  influence  for  good.  Many  others  of  these  noble 
men  have  also  been  noticed  in  brief  sketches  under  the 
title  of  "Presbyterian  Worthies,"  who,  working  in  uni- 
son, though  often  in  different  spheres,  had  the  same  ob- 
ject in  view. 

NOTE :  At  the  bottom  of  each  picture  are  numbers 
designating  the  page  in  the  book  on  which  the  person's 
name  is  mentioned.  J.  H.  P. 

New  York  City,  March,  1900. 


THE  FOLLOWING  AUTHORITIES  HAVE  BEEN 
CONSULTED. 

Historians  of  the  Presbyterian  Church :  Rev.  Drs. 
Charles  Hodge,  Richard  Webster,  Robert  Davidson, 
Robert  Thompson,  and  Lenord  W.  Bacon  (the  last  two, 
VI.,  XIII.  Ch.  Hist.  Series).  Dr.  E.  H.  Gillett,  2  vols., 
an  admirable  work,  revised  in  1864.  Prof.  Charles  A. 
Briggs,  American  Presbyterianism,  covering  the  Colonial 
period.  The  latter  history  has  the  merit  of  being  greatly 
enriched  by  the  use  of  original  manuscript  documents, 
which  were  "unknown  to  previous  historians"  [of  the 
Presbyterian  Church],  "with  the  single  exception  of 
those"  [that  were  made  public]  "of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  (See  p.  P4 
of  this  volume.) 

Prof.  Briggs,  during  a  sojourn  in  Great  Britain  in 
1884,  availed  himself  of  an  opportunity  in  a  dozen  or 
more  libraries — secular  and  ecclesiastical — to  search  for 
manuscript  reports  and  documents  that  pertained  to  the 
Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches  in  America 
during  the  Colonial  period.  All  the  documents  having  a 
bearing  on  that  subject  he  had  transcribed  under  careful 
supervision,  and  afterward  deposited  the  copies  in  con- 
venient volumes  in  the  Library  of  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York  City.  Portions  of  these  documents 
were  published  for  the  first  time  in  an  Appendix — pp.  /.- 
CXXII. — to  American  Presbyterianism. 

Drs.  Robert  Baird,  "Religion  in  America" ;  Charles 
W.  Baird,  "Huguenot  Emigration."  Bishop  Meade, 
"Old  Churches  of  Virginia."  Benedict,  "History  of  the 
Baptists."  Rev.  Drs.  Francis  Hawks,  "Episcopal  Church 
in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina";  William  H.  Foote, 
"Sketches  of  Virginia";  Abel  Stevens,  "History  of  Meth- 
odism" ;  Sprague's  "Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit" ; 
"The  Briggs  Heresy  Case,"  by  Dr.  John  J.  McCook,  and 
the  other  documents  pertaining  to  the  same. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE. 

American  Presbyterianism. — Parity  of  the  Ministry. — Elders 
or  Presbyters. — The  Bishops. — Paul  and  Timothy,  Com- 
missioners.— The  Reformers  on  Church  Government. — 
Union  of  Church  and  State. — The  Prelatical  Form  of 
Church  Government I 

CHAPTER  n. 

The  Reformation  in  England. 

Magna  Charta. — Wycklif  and  Tyndale's  Translations. — Eng- 
lishmen's Rights. — The  People's  Voice  in  Church  Gov- 
ernment.— Different  Forms  of  Which. — Henry  VHI.  as 
Head  of  the  Church. — Progress  of  the  English  People. — 
The  Prelatical  System. — The  Puritan. — Union  of  Church 
and  State  in  England. — The  Exiles  Abroad. — What  They 
Learned 9 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Parity  of  the  Ministry  or  Clergy. 

Significant  Names. — The  Term  Rector. — The  Non-Persecu- 
tors.— Partial  Responsibility  of  a  Subordinate. — Apos- 
tolic Succession 18 

CHAPTER  IV. 

A  Phase  of  the  Reformation, 

A  Religious  Force. — Self-Supporting  Church. — Its  Spirit- 
uality Enhanced. — Jure  Divino  Doctrine. — True  Relation 
of  the  State  to  the  Church 27 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Presbyterians  and  Puritans  in  Henry  VHI.'s  Reign. 

PAGE. 

Confessions  of  Faith. — The  Two  Parties. — The  Heroic  Age. 
—Harmony  of  Beliefs.— The  XXIX.  Articles.        .        .    31 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Presbyterians  in  the  Reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James. 

The  Formation  of  a  Presbytery. — The  Independents  Unor- 
ganized.— The  Primitive  Church  Self-supporting. — King 
James — His  Character. — James  and  the  General  Assem- 
bly.— The  Influence  of  the  Bishops. — Hopes  Disap- 
pointed.— Migrations  to  Ireland. — The  Culdee  Church. — 
The  Translation  of  the  Bible 2^ 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Sabbath   Desecration — The   Solemn   League   and   Covenant. 

The  Book  of  Sports. — Influence  of  the  Sabbath. — The  Con- 
tinental Sabbath. — The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant. — 
Why  Were  the  Bishops  Feared? — Eflfects  of  Trials  and 
Persecutions. — Presbyterian     Household     Training.         .     46 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

Westminster  Confession — Events  Connected  Therewith. 

The  Parliamentary  Ordinance. — Westminster  Assembly. — 
Directory  for  Public  Worship. — The  Members  of  the 
Assembly. — Its  Character. — Civil  Commotions. — Apos- 
tolic Succession — Questions  Thereon. — Cromwell's  Do- 
ings.— The  New  Parliament. — The  Divine  Right  for 
Church  Government. — Plan  for  a  State  Church.        .        .     55 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Migrations  to  the  Colonies — Congregational  and  Pres- 
byterian. 

PAGE. 

Puritans  in  Virginia. — Policy  of  the  Virginia  Company. — 
Plymouth  Colony. — A  Presbyterian  Church  Organized. — 
Why  the  Presbyterians  were  Liberal. — Limited  Influence 
of  the  Synod. — The  Constitution  of  the  Congregational 
Church. — Migrations  of  Presbyterians  to  New  York. — 
Christian  Brotherhood  Practised. — Statement  of  Gov- 
ernor Andros. Influence  of  the  Act  of  Toleration.        .     66 

CHAPTER  X. 

Contrasts  in  Landholdings — Cavaliers — Elders  as  Worthies. 

Royalists. — Berkeley's  Prayer. — Why  the  Enmity  ©f  the 
Clergy. — The  Charter  for  Maryland. — The  Liberal  Pol- 
icy.— The  Repentanf  Chaplain. — Presbyterian  Elders  and 
Worthies. — Doughty    and    Hill. "j^i 

CHAPTER  XL 

Francis  Makemie — Presbyterianism  in  Several  Colonies. 

Francis  Makemie. — His  Business  Talents. — The  Memorial 
Church. — A  Stanch  Defender  of  Religious  Liberty. — A 
Presbyterian  Church  Organized. — Makemie's  Trial. — 
Presbyterianism  in  New  Jersey — In  Delaware  and  Penn- 
sylvania.— In  South  Carolina. — Missionaries  from  New 
England. — A  Colony  Formed  on  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.     82 

CHAPTER  XIL 

The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia   (1706). 

Presbytery  Constituted. — The  First  Missionary  Society. — 
"Heads  of  Department." — A  Society  for  Propagating 
the  Gospel. — Difficulties  and  Progress. — Introduction  of 
the  Eldership 91 


XII  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Persecutions  and  Trials. 

PAGE. 

A  Church  and  Parsonage  Seized. — Bribery  and  Trickery. — 
The  Case  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. — A  Law 
Misapplied 99 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Formation  of  a  Synod. 

Missionary  Funds. — Fraternal  Intercourse. — Test  and  Schism 
Acts. — William  Tennent. — The  First  Log  College. — 
Guarding  the  Faith.— The  Efifects  of  the  Adopting  Act. 
— Liberal  and  Strict  Subscription. — Presbyterians  in 
Maine. — Transfer  of  the  Log  College. — Princeton  Col- 
lege.— The  Educational  Fund. — The.  Leading  Points  of 
Influence 107 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Origin  of  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia. 

Morris'  Reading-House. — Persecutions  and  Petty  Annoy- 
ances.— The   Name   Presbyterian. — Further   Annoyances.  121 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Log  Colleges. 

The  Bible  Studied  as  a  Whole. — The  Two  Academies — 
Hampden  —  Sidney.  —  Augusta  Academy.  —  Theology 
Taught  Separately. — Private  Classical  Schools. — Schools 
Beyond  the  Alleghanies  (North). — Germs  of  Two  Col- 
lege?— Jefferson  and  Washington. — Study  on  Two  Lines. 
— The  Religious  Influence. — Schools  beyond  the  Alle- 
ghanies (South). — Greeneville  College 127 


CONTENTS.  XIII 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Presbyterian   Settlements  in  the   Shenandoah   Valley. 

PAGE. 

Letters  of  the  Synod  and  Governor  Gooch. — Presbyterians 
in  North  Carolina. — Mission  of  Rev.  William  Robinson. 
— Dr.  Samuel  Davies. — An  Incident. — The  Presbyterians 
of  Hanover  County  Specially  Hated. — Modes  of  Levy- 
ing Church  Rates. — The  Mecklenburg  Declaration. — A 
Sad  History 137 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Revivals — Division  and  Reunion. 

Moravians  and  Pietists. — Influence  of  Pietism. — Differences 
of  Opinion. — The  Old  Side. — New  Side. — Division  of  the 
Synod. — Zeal  for  Religion. — The  Reunion. — Long  Island 
Churches 149 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Separation  of  Church   and   State  in   Virginia. 

The  Half-Way  Covenant. — Why  the  Harsh  Intolerance  in 
Virginia. — The  Vagrant  in  Connecticut  and  New  York. 
— Illiberal  Laws  in  Virginia. — Freedom  from  Ecclesias- 
tical Clannishness. — Grades  of  Ministerial  Education. — 
Severe  Conflicts. — Efforts  to  Reform  Clerical  Morals. — 
Preachers  Appointed  by  the  Crown. — English  Church 
Established. — Influence  of  an  Educated  Ministry. — Con- 
flicts in  Respect  to  Salaries. — A  Great  Principle  Estab- 
lished  159 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Separation  of  Church  and  State — Continued. 

The  Struggle  Begins. — Committee  on  Religion  and  Morality. 
— The  Petitions ;  The  Demand  as  a  Right. — Upon  Whom 
Fell  the  Burden  of  the  Conflict? — The  Legislature  Met 
on   Its   Own   Ground. — Objectionable   Laws   Repealed. — 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Prejudices  Roused. —  Tories. —  Whigs. —  Quakers. —  The 
General  Assessment. — Another  Memorial. — Defects  in 
the  Law  of  Repeal. — Security  for  Religious  Rights  De- 
manded.— Protest  against  Incorporating  the  Episcopal 
Church. — General  Assessment  Again. — Effects  of  Peti- 
tions.— Contests  in  Respect  to  Glebes. — A  Half-Century 
of  Intolerance  Remembered. — An  Apology  Urged. — Who 
Began  the  Movement  and  Secured  the  Result. — Religious 
Freedom  and  Patriotism. — Influence  of  the  Measure  in 
New  England. — Slavery  Opposed. — Personal  Responsi- 
bility Recognized. — Self-Denial  and  Benevolence. — In- 
fluence of  the  Voluntary  Principle. — A  Nation's  Moral 
Training 175 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Troublous  Times. 

Patriotism. — Pastoral  Letter. — The  Evil  Influence. — The  Two 
Movements. — Kinds  of  Church  Government. — A  Com- 
prehensive One. — Discordant  and  Rival  States.        .        .  198 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  General  Assembly  Arranged  For. 

Increase  of  the  Church. — Four  Synods  Organized. — The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  Constituted. — The  Address  to  President 
Washington ;  His  Reply. — Doctrinal  Truths  Guarded. — 
A  Christian  Patriotism. — Ex-oiHcio  Members. — Vot- 
ing by  Orders. — Ecclesiastical  Despotism.        .        .        .  205 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Presbyterian  Movements  in  the  South. 

The  Migrations. — The  Three  Pioneer  Ministers. — Retarding 
Influences. — The  Sabbath  Desecrated. — The  Surveyor; 
His  News. — The  Founding  of  a  Church. — The  Planters 
of  the  Church  in  Tennessee. — A  Peculiar  Type  of  In- 
fidelity.—The  Political  Clubs 214 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
The  Great  Revival. 

PAGE. 

Rev.  James  McGready. — Irreligious  Conditions. — Character- 
istics of  the  Revival. — Injurious  Divisions. — The  In- 
fluence of  the  Revival. — Camp  Meetings. — Uneducated 
Men  Licensed  to  Preach. — Cumberland  Presbyterians. — 
Another  Great  Revival. — The  Counterpart. — The  Re- 
vival Extends. — The  Contrast 224 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Way  Prepared  for  the  Plan  of  Union. 

Line  of  Migration. — Losses  and  Regains. — Interest  in  Mis- 
sions.— Plan  of  Union  Suggested. — Presbyterial  Govern- 
ment Preferred. — Why  the  Churches  Prospered. — Why 
Western  New  York  Prospered. — Result  of  Christian 
Effort. — Effects  of  the  Great  Revival. — Standing  Com- 
mittees Appointed. — The  Sad  Interference. — Efforts  in 
Favor  of  Temperance. — Reports  on  the  Same.        .        .  235 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Presbyterian  Worthies. 

Taggart,  Dana,  Morrison. — Blatchford,  Nott,  Porter. — Rod- 
gers,  Perrine,  Romeyn,  Spring. — Richards,  Griffin. — 
Green,  the  Alexanders,  Miller,  Finley. — Janeway,  Wil- 
son, Skinner,  Ely,  Patterson 246 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Presbyterian  Worthies — Continued. 

Hoge,  Rice. — John  McMillan. — Porter,  Power,  Marquis, 
Dunlap,  Ralston. — An  Appreciative  Estimate. — The 
Combined  Influence 257 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
Progress  of  the  Church. 

PAGE. 

Formation  of  National  Societies. — The  Western. — Educa- 
tional Societies,  Their  Union. — Duelling. — Opposition  to 
Slavery,  Deliverance  on. — Francis  Herron. — Revivals  in 
the  South. — Progress  in  Religion,  How  Promoted. — The 
Migration  of  a  Church. — Prayer  Meetings. — Union  Meet- 
ings.— Drs.  James  Hall  and  S.  E.  McCorkle.       .       .       .  265 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Progress  of  the  Church — Continued. 

Drs.  Ingles  and  Nevens. — Religious  Interest  in  New  Jersey. 
— Increase  of  the  Church  in  New  York  State. — Dr. 
James  Carnahan. — Associations  and  Presbyteries. — Re- 
ligion West  of  the  Genesee. — Immigration. — Co-opera- 
tion   ...  280 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Settlements  and  Churches  in  the  West. 

Settlement  of  Marietta. — Revs.  Story,  Lindsley,  Hughes. — 
Cincinnati  Founded. — The  First  Church  Organized. — 
Settlements  in  the  Reserve. — Ministers  of  the  Presby- 
tery of  Ohio. — Rev.  Joseph  Badger. — Woman's  Self- 
denying    Labors. — Population    and    Preachers.         .         .  288 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Increase  of  the  Church. 

Accessions  from  Other  Bodies.— Reports  on  Revivals. — 
Board  of  Missions. — The  Ex-ofUcio  Principle  Suggested. 
— Efforts  for  an  Educated  Ministry. — Revivals  in  Col- 
leges.— Theological  Seminaries. — Churches  in  Need  of 
Pastors. — Domestic  Missionary  Society. — Charleston  As- 
sociation, Its  Action. — Psalmody,  Intemperance,  Sabbath 
Desecration.— Increasing  Interest  in  Missions.— Deliver- 
ance on  Slavery 30i 


CONTENTS.  XVII 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Increase  of  the  Church— Continueu. 

PAGE. 

Plans  for  Placing  the  Bible  in  Every  Family. — Increased 
Missionary  Efforts. — Home  Missionary  Society  Formed. 
— Influence  of  the  First  Address  of  the  Committee. — 
Eastern  Christians  Interested.  —  Destitutions.  —  The 
Church  in  New  Orleans  and  Mobile. — In  Huntsville. — 
In  Georgia,  Carolinas,  Florida. — Church  beyond  the 
Mountains 310 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Theological  Seminaries. 

Auburn  Seminary. — Western  or  Allegheny. — Lane. — Centre 
of  Population. — Religious  Condition  of  the  Great  Valley. 
— Seminary  at  Maryville. — Oakland  College. — Union 
Seminary,    Virginia. — President    Matthew    Brown.         .  318 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Louisiana  Purchased. 

Indian  Missions  in  the  Southwest. — In  Georgia. — The  In- 
dians Removed. — Individual  Influence. — Dr.  Charles 
Coffin. — Dr.  Isaac  Anderson. — President  of  Maryville 
College. — The  Migration  of  a  Congregation,  James  White 
Stephenson. — Characteristic     Zeal. — Gideon     Blackburn.  326 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

New  Orleans — The  Towns  up  the  River. 

The  People  of  New  Orleans. — Elias  Cornelius. — Sylvester 
Larned. — Religion  in  the  Towns  up  the  River. — Samuel 
Royce. — Educational  Society. — The  American  Board. — 
The  Action  ex  Officio 338 


XVIII  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Numerous  Revivals. 

PAGE. 

Revivals  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois. — In  Kentucky,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Georgia. — In  Virginia. — The  Sabbath, 
Sunday  Mails. — The  Famous  Report  on  the  Same. — 
Ratio  of  Representation  in  the  Assembly. — Statistics  of 
the    Church 345 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Societies — Churches — Colleges. 

Home  Missions. — Organizing  Churches. — Father  Dickey. — 
Immigration  of  Farmers. — The  Time  of  Commissions 
Limited. — The  Church  at  the  Capital  of  Indiana. — Rev. 
Isaac  Reed. — Number  of  Churches  and  Ministers. — Mis- 
sionaries in  Illinois. — Illinois  College 353 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Relation  of  Churches  to  Certain  Presbyteries. 

Why  the  Interest  in  Missouri. — Religious  Character  of  St. 
Louis.— The  Tour  of  Samuel  J.  Mills.— Rev.  Samuel 
Giddings. — Rev.  Timothy  Flint. — Reasons  for  the  Mi- 
gration.— A  Number  of  Missionaries. — John  Matthews. 
— Missions  in  Michigan. — Traits  of  Early  Settlers. — 
Labors  of  Rev.  John  Monteith. — Mission  at  the  Straits 
of  St.  Mary. — The  Reports. — Wives  of  Missionaries.        .  364 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

A  Change  of  Policy. 

Progress  of  the  Church. — The  Awakened  Interest. — The 
Change  within  Thirty  Years. — Areas  of  Missionary  Ter- 
ritory compared. — What  Presbyteries  Had  at  Stake. — 
Church  Discipline. — Irresponsibility  of  Voluntary  So- 
cieties.— The  Assembly's  Board,  and  of  Education. — Ele- 
ments That  Caused  Friction. — An  Important  Movement. 
— Scotch    Presbyterians. — The    Special    Ground    Taken.  380 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

CHAPTER  XL. 

Unsubstantiated  Rumors. 

PAGE. 

Conflict  of  Theological  Opinions. — New  Measures. — Unjust 
Suspicions. — An  Important  Rule  Adopted. — Ministers 
Ordained  Injudiciously 392 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

The  Trial  of  Albert  Barnes. 

The  Sermon. — Appeal  to  the  Synod. — The  Matter  Submitted. 
— Elective  Affinity. — Biblical  Notes. — The  Second  Trial. 
— The  Appeal  to  the  Assembly. — Bible  Study  Promoted. 
— The   Example   Followed. — The   Terms  of   Distinction.  399 

.    ,  CHAPTER  XLII. 

Trial  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher. 

A  Feeling  of  Unrest. — The  Recommendations. — Suspicions 
Disproved. — Dr.  Beecher  and  Dr.  Wilson. — The  Charges 
Not  Sustained. — Dr.  Wilson  Withdraws  His  Appeal. — 
Suggestive  Considerations. — Abstract  Phases  of  Thought.  408 

CHAPTER  XLIIL 

Measures  Leading  to  the  Division. 

The  New  and  the  Old  School. — Conditions  on  Which  Min- 
isters Were  Received. — The  Charges  in  the  Memorial. — 
The  Protest  Not  Received. — The  Act  and  Testimony. — 
Signers  and  Objectors  to  the  Act. — A  Convention 
Called. — The  Effects  of  the  Agitation. — Grievances. — 
Elective  Affinity. — Changes  of  Opinion. — A  Committee 
of  Conference. — Misleading  Statements. — Instructions 
Transcended. — Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New 
York  City 416 


XX  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 
The  Division  of  the  Church. 

PAGE. 

Plans  Laid  for  Future  Action. — The  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion.— Its  Recommendations. — A  Special  Grievance. — 
The  Assembly  of  1837. — Expression  of  Good  Will,  Rea- 
sons for  Action. — An  Ominous  Vote. — Amicable  Division 
Proposed. — Excision  of  Synods. — Dealing  with  Presby- 
teries.— Board  of  Missions. —  The  Protests. —  Errors 
Acted  Upon. — The  Connecticut  Missionary  Society. — Sad 
Statistics. — Difficulties  in  Attending  General  Assemblies. 
— The  Action  on   Slavery. — The  Pastoral   Circular.         .  430 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

The  Two  Assemblies. 

Complaint  and  Acts  of  the  Convention. — The  Assembly  of 
1838. — The  Crisis  Had  Come. — The  Old  School  Assem- 
bly.— The  Question  of  Slavery. — The  New  School  As- 
sembly.— Effort  to  Effect  a  Compromise. — The  Two 
Civil  Court  Trials 448 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

The  Two  Assemblies — Continued. 

Synods  Dissolved. — Abbreviated  Creeds. — Ad  Interim  Com- 
mittee.— Two  Plans  for  Mission  Work. — An  Indirect  In- 
fluence.— Financial  Disturbances 456 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 

The  Two  Assemblies — Continued. 

Protests  and  Criticisms. — The  Adjustments. — The  Work  of 
Both  Assemblies. — Aloof  from  Slavery  Agitation — Con- 
versions.— Difficulties  in  Co-operation. — The  Secession 
of  Synods. — The  American  Missionary  Association. — 
The  Revival  of  1857 463 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 
The  Two  Assemblies — Continued. 

PAGE. 

A  Decided  Stand  Taken. — A  Change  in  the  Mode  of  Con- 
ducting Missions. — The  Old  School  Unhindered. — Eman- 
cipation —  The  Freedmen.  —  Innovations  Attempted. — 
Triennial  AssembUes. — Protests. — Singular  Results.         .  472 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 

The  Reunion. 

Preparing  for  Reunion. — The  Civil  War. — Renevired  Diffi- 
culties.— The  Cry  for  Help. — The  Committees  on  Re- 
union— the  Basis. — Woman's  Work. — Proffered  Fra- 
ternity.— Synods  Consolidated. — The  Discipline  Revised. 
— Statistics  of  Spiritual  Progress. — The  Presbyterial 
Centennial. — Church  Periodical — Seminaries. — Revision 
Desired 480 

CHAPTER  L. 

Presbyterian  Worthies. 

Edward  Robinson,  Philip  Lindsley. — Charles  Hodge. — Will- 
iam Adams. — Henry  Boynton  Smith. — Robert  Jefferson 
Breckinridge. — W.  G.  T.  Shedd. — Daniel  Baker. — Henry 
Little 493 

CHAPTER  LI. 

Trial  of  Dr.  Briggs. 

The  Professorship  Founded. — The  Outline  of  Study. — His 
Inaugural ;  Action  Thereon. — The  First  Trial  by  the 
Presbytery. — The  Second  Trial  Exaustivo. — Reason  as 
an  Authority. — The  Stress  on  Reason. — The  Pentateuch 
and  Isaiah. — Progressive  Sanctification. — The  Soul  in 
the  Middle  State. — Second  Probation 511 


XXII  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  LII. 

PAGE. 

Errors  or  Discrepancies  in  the  Bible. — The  Two  Citations. — 
Prejudices  Excited. — Tvro  Classes. — Facts  to  Be  Consid- 
ered.— A  Race  Redemption. — The  Minute  Adopted. — In- 
errancy of  the  Bible. — A  New  Phase. — The  Protest. — 
The  Explanatory  Resolution. —  Misapprehensions. —  A 
Review. — Comments. — The  Outcome. — Second  Protest. — 
Union  Seminary  Independent 529 

CHAPTER  LIII. 

Assemblies  of  1894-1899. 

Case  of  Professor  Smith. — Comparison  of  Statistics. — In- 
creased Contributions. — The  Rule. — Home  Missions. — 
Effects  for  Good  on  Two  Lines. — An  Eventful  Period. — 
The  General  Assembly  of  1899 545 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

Assemblies  of  1898- 1899. 

Overtures  on  Triennial  Assemblies. — The  Assembly  of  1899. 
— Patriots — Citizens    and    Christians 551 


LIST   OF   PORTRAITS. 


FACING   PAGE 


Jacob  Harris  Patton,  A.  M.,  Ph.  D, 

Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  D.  D.    . 

Rev.  John  Rodgers,  D.D. 

Rev.  John  McMillan,  D.  D.    . 

Rev.  Archibald  Alexander,  D.  D. 

Rev.  Eliphalet  Nott,  D.  D.     . 

Rev.  John  Holt  Rice,  D.  D.  . 

Rev.  Francis  Herron,  D.  D.  . 

Rev.  Charles  Coffin,  D.  D.     . 

Rev.  James  Carnahan,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Rev.  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D. . 

Rev.  Philip  Lindsley,  D.D.    . 

Rev.  Charles  Hodge,  D.  D.    . 

Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D.  . 

Rev.  Gideon  Blackburn,  D.  D. 

Rev.  Matthevi^  Brown,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Rev.  Albert  Barnes 

Rev.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  D.  D.,  LL.  D, 

Rev.  Edward  Robinson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Rev.  Henry  Boynton  Smith,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


Frontispiece 


48 
78 
108 
130 
160 
186 
216 
244 
282 

316 

370 
390 

404 
416 
436 
492 
502 


A  POPULAR  HISTORY 

OF   THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


I. 

To  have  a  clear  conception  of  the  principles  and  or- 
ganization of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  it  is  essential  to  trace  its  origin  in 
Europe,  especially  its  history  in  Great  Britain.  From 
the  latter  country  Presbyterian  immigrants  introduced 
into  this  land  that  form  of  church  government  and 
internal  policy,  which,  in  consequence  of  distinctive 
features,  has  been  characterized  as  American  Presby- 
terianism. 

This  denomination  holds  and  practises  the  theory  of 
a  church  government  by  elders  or  presbyters — these 
words  being  the  same  in  meaning,  while  from  the  lat- 
ter the  name  is  derived.  This  form  of  government 
combines  the  democratic  principle  with  the  represen- 
tative or  republican,  inasmuch  as  the  church  members 
elect  the  elders  as  their  representatives,  thus  utilizing 
the  wisdom,  the  influence,  and  the  experience  of  their 
best  men.  It  also  brings  into  view  two  distinct  fea- 
tures :  one  recognizing  the  parity  of  the  ministry  or 
clergy  (page  i8) ,  the  other  the  right  of  the  church  mem- 
bers— in  political  phrase,  the  people — to  have  a  voice 


2  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

in  such  government  by  means  of  lay  representatives  or 
elders  of  their  own  choosing. 

The  main  principles  in  accordance  with  which  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  is  governed 
were  held  and  virtually  acted  upon  by  the  reformed 
churches  on  the  continent  of  Europe  immediately  after 
the  commencement  of  the  Reformation  (15 17).  This 
may  be  said  of  all  those  who  held  the  parity  of  the 
ministry:  the  Huguenots  in  France,  the  Church  of 
Holland,  the  Lutherans  in  Germany,  and  the  churches 
in  Geneva,  Switzerland.  The  parity  of  the  ministry 
was  in  contradistinction  to  the  Roman  Catholic  hierar- 
chy, or  form  of  priestly  rule,  and  the  latter's  modifica- 
tion in  the  Church  of  England,  Thus  there  was  a  radi- 
cal difference  in  the  mode  of  government  between  the 
reformed  churches  and  the  latter  two.  The  parity  of 
the  clergy  or  ministry  is  based  on  our  Lord's  positive 
statement :  "  One  is  your  Master  even  Christ ;  and  ye 
are  brethren. " 

Elders  or  Presbyters. — Whatever  may  have  been  the 
form  of  church  government  among  the  children  of 
Israel,  it  is  evident  from  the  records  thereof  that  the 
order  of  elders  played  an  important  part  from  the  ear- 
liest times,  even  when  they  were  in  bondage  in  Egypt. 
These  elders  appear  to  have  been  heads  of  families  or 
tribes,  their  authority  being  patriarchal  or  paternal; 
they  were  also,  it  would  seem,  representatives  of  the 
people  at  large  (Ex.  iii.  16,  18  and  iv.  29-31).  This 
order  of  rulers,  evidently  established  by  Divine  author- 
ity, was  extended  and  fostered  by  Moses,  and  kept  up, 
it  may  have  been,  in  a  modified  form  during  the  kingly 
rule,  and  while  they  were  captives  at  Babylon;  and 
after  their  return  to  Judea  was  continued  till  the  time 
of  Christ.  During  all  this  time,  as  incidentally  noted 
in  the  New  Testament,  the  elders  appear  to  have  been 


A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH.  3 

associated  in  the  government  with  the  scribes  and  chief 
priests,  but  they  were  not  of  either  order.  The  rulers 
of  the  synagogue  were  termed  elders,  they  being  elected 
because  of  their  age — as  the  name  implies — ^and  other 
qualifications.  The  title  was  given  to  those  who  con- 
ducted the  religious  services  of  the  synagogue,  such  as 
reading  the  Law,  expounding  its  meaning  and  prayer. 
This  form  of  government,  naturally,  passed  over  from 
the  Jewish  synagogue  into  the  Christian  churches  that 
were  organized  among  the  converts  from  that  faith,  as 
well  as  among  those  from  the  Gentile  world.  At  this 
early  period  of  the  church  the  presbyters  or  elders  were 
"the  legular  teachers  or  pastors,  preachers  and  leaders  of 
the  congregations — the  term  presbyter  is  no  doubt  of 
Jewish-Christian  origin,  a  translation  of  the  Hebrew 
title  applied  to  the  rules  of  the  synagogue." 

It  was  very  natural  that  that  form  of  church  govern- 
ment should  be  transferred  with  modifications  growing 
out  of  the  existing  circumstances  to  the  Christian 
churches  composed  of  Jewish  converts,  and  afterward 
to  those  that  were  organized  among  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians. The  Jewish  people  looked  upon  this  mode  of  gov- 
erning and  O'f  giving  instruction  in  their  synagogues  as 
having  the  sanction  of  Divine  authority. 

The  Bishops. — The  word  "bishop" — episkopos — (over- 
seer) applies  to  the  official  duties  of  the  elders  or  pres- 
byters, as  teachers  or  pastors  of  congregations.  These 
terms  were  used  interchangeably,  they  being  synony- 
mous, as  when  Paul  sent  from  Miletus  (Acts  xx.  17,  28) 
to  Ephesus  and  called  the  presbyters  or  elders  of  the 
church  in  that  city.  In  his  address  to  them  in  the  28th 
verse  he  says:  "Take  heed  to  yourselves  and  to  all  the 
flock  in  the  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  made  you  bishops" 
— overseers — Greek  episkopous.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
these  terms  are  in  the  plural,  and  the  connection  shows 


4  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

that  they  apply  equally  to  the  same  persons — the  elders, 
the  presbyters  or  the  bishops,  the  latter  word  expressing 
one  phase  of  the  official  character  of  the  persons  in  rule 
in  the  churches  at  Ephesus.  These  elders  or  presbyters 
appear  to  have  been  equal  in  authority,  no  one  superior 
to  another — this  is  in  accordance  with  the  parity  of  the 
ministry  as  announced  by  our  Lord  when  he  said,  as  has 
been  noted,  "All  ye  are  brethren,  I  am  Master."  In  one 
instance  Paul  (Phil.  i.  i)  addresses  the  saints  in  Christ 
Jesus  with  the  bishops  and,  deacons — the  plural  form 
again.  In  this  passage  he  does  not  use  the  terms  pres- 
byters or  elders ;  these  different  official  designations  were 
used  one  for  the  other,  as  in  Acts  xx.,  as  just  cited.  The 
custom  of  thus  naming  the  officers  in  the  churches  pre- 
vailed at  that  time ;  and  still  further,  these  names  being  in 
the  plural  corroborate  the  theory  that  they  were  thus 
used  because  they  were  in  meaning  synonymous.  Again, 
in  Paul's  charge  to  Titus  (Titus  ii.  5,  6)  to  appoint  eld- 
ers (presbyters)  he  uses  the  plural.  Afterward  in  the 
same  connection  he  defines  what  should  be  the  qualifi- 
cations of  each  one  of  these  elders,  but  in  speaking  of  the 
individual  he  uses  the  singular  only.  The  office  of  the 
modern  bishop  of  a  diocese  or  district  does  not  appear 
to  be  foreshadowed  in  these  passages.  "The  office  of  the 
early  bishops,  when  they  became  distinguished  from  other 
presbyters,  was  not  at  all  a  roving  episcopate.  It  was  a 
local  or  parochial  episcopate  or  superintendency — as  com- 
pletely so  as  the  office  of  any  Congregational  or  Presby- 
terian pastor  at  the  present  day."  {Prof.  G.  P.  Fisher.) 
Paid  and  Timothy's  Commissions. — When  writing  to 
Timothy  (Tim.  iv.  14)  Paul  urges  him  not  to  "neglect 
the  gift  that  is  in  thee  which  was  given  thee  by  prophecy 
with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery  (pres- 
buteron — the  eldership — referring  to  the  ceremony  that 
was  used  in  ordaining  or  licensing  a  presbyter  to  preach 


A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH.  5 

the  gospel.  Paul  also  relates  of  himself  (Acts  xxii.  5) 
that  by  order  of  the  eldership — perhaps  of  the  Jewish 
sanhedrim — he  was  commissioned  to  go  to  Damascus  on 
a  persecuting  errand.  It  will  be  noticed  that  in  the  case 
of  licensing  Timothy,  it  was  not  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  one  man  as  a  bishop  appointed  for  the  purpose, 
but  of  the  whole  body  of  presbyters  collectively. 

The  transition  in  the  general  mode  of  government  from 
the  Jewish  Church  into  the  Christian,  was  so  natural  and 
simple  that  there  was  no  necessity  to  give  an  explanation 
of  the  process,  hence  the  mode  is  mentioned  only  inciden- 
tally as  being  well  known  to  those  living  at  the  time.  This 
mode  of  government  by  elders  had  the  Divine  sanction  in 
the  Jewish  Church,  God  being  King  and  Master. 

The  Reformers  on  Church  Government. — It  was  not 
strange  in  the  great  Reformation  commencing  in  15 17, 
when  the  prominent  leaders  became  more  and  more  fa- 
miliar with  the  system  of  government  that  prevailed  in  the 
primitive  church,  as  traced  incidentally  in  the  ac- 
counts given  in  the  gospels  and  in  the  epistles  or  writ- 
ings of  the  Apostles.  They  there  learned  of  the  parity 
of  the  ministry,  and  that  the  form  of  government  by  eld- 
ers or  representatives  of  the  church  members  had  passed 
over  from  the  Jewish  Church  into  that  of  the  Christian. 
And  also,  that  the  latter  did  not  depart  from  the  usual 
form  of  government,  but  only  separated  themselves  from 
their  Jewish  brethren,  inasmuch  as  they  accepted  the  spir- 
itual truths*  proclaimed  by  Jesus  in  relation  to  himself  and 
his  mission  as  the  Messiah,  which  truths  the  Jews  re- 
jected. They  also  learned  that  when  Christian  churches 
were  formed  among  the  Gentiles,  the  Apostles  continued 
the  system  of  church  government  already  existing  in  the 
churches  in  Jerusalem.  They  learned  still  further  from 
profane  and  ecclesiastical  history,  that  in  the  course  of 
ages,  as  the  result  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  there 


6  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

grew  up  another  form  of  church  government,  which  was 
in  violation  of  the  principle,  "All  ye  are  brethren,"  and 
out  of  which  arose  a  class  of  superiors  in  the  church 
known  as  bishops.  Those  of  the  latter  who  lived  in  the 
cities  gradually  assumed  precedence  of  their  fellows  liv- 
ing in  the  suburban  districts — they  claiming  the  title  of 
archbishop  or  metropolitan.  The  simple  and  primitive 
government  by  presbyters,  the  representatives  of  the 
church  members  or  people,  was  thus  superseded  by  the 
unpatemal  and  unrighteous  assumption  of  these  eccle- 
siastics. This  assumption  did  not  end  here,  but  in  time 
culminated  in  the  Papacy  and  its  various  grades  of  church 
rulers,  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  the  lay  representatives  as 
found  in  the  primitive  church.  The  true  Reformers,  there- 
fore, rejected  the  papal  system  of  government  as  being 
unscriptural,  and  so  constituted  as  to  exalt  certain  men 
into  positions  in  the  church,  not  by  the  choice  or  votes  of 
the  church  members,  but  by  appointments  often  made  by 
secular  influence.  This  mode  was  contrary  to  the  primi- 
tive form  and  to  our  Lord's  fundamental  injunction  upon 
his  disciples,  that  they  "being  brethren,"  were  not  to 
usurp  authority  over  one  another.  The  Reformers  uni- 
versally rejected  the  papal  form  of  church  government, 
and  even  characterized  its  head  as  the  "Anti-Christ,"  con- 
cerning whom,  long  ages  before,  prophecy  had  warned 
the  saints. 

The  Union  of  Church  and  State  had  been  in  existence 
from  the  age  of  Constantine — 300  A.  D. — and  was  in 
full  vigor  in  the  time  of  Luther.  The  impression  in  that 
day  was  that  the  church  in  some  way  ought  to  be  de- 
pendent for  pecuniary  support  upon  the  state,  and  the 
latter  on  that  theory  assumed  to  regulate  its  affairs — 
both  secular  and  spiritual.  Hence,  the  Lutheran  churches, 
though  repudiating  such  rule,  were  forced  to  accept  a 
church  government  by  officers  styled  "consistories,"  who 


A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH.  7 

were  appointed  by  the  several  princes  then  ruHng  in  Ger- 
many. The  Reformers,  however,  as  they  progressed  in 
their  knowledge  of  spiritual  truths,  as  derived  from  the 
study  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  were  led  to  notice  the 
evil  influence  that  fell  upon  the  spirituality  of  the  church 
members  in  consequence  of  the  appointments  of  eccle- 
siastical instructors  that  were  made  by  the  secular  au- 
thorities. Hence  the  Church  of  Holland,  the  Hugue- 
nots and  the  Church  of  Geneva,  with  John  Calvin  leading, 
virtually  repudiated  the  secular  rule,  and  went  back 
to  the  spiritual,  which  prevailed  in  the  primi- 
tive church.  The  latter  had  no  secular  pecuniary 
aid,  but  was  self-supporting.  Meantime  the  Jewish  ec- 
clesiastical authorities,  as  well  as  the  heathen  Roman  gov- 
ernment, were  both  bitterly  opposed  to  the  spiritual  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  system. 

The  Prelatical  Form  of  Government. — In  Great  Britain 
there  grew  up  a  modified  form  of  church  government  de- 
rived from  that  of  Rome  and  known  as  Prelatical;  the 
latter  has  in  it  the  elements  of  the  papacy,  but  it  has  hither- 
to reached  only  as  high  as  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
— the  primate  of  all  England.  This  system  was  the  direct 
outgrowth  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State — to  relate  the 
full  history  of  the  process  by  which  this  result  was  at- 
tained is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  narrative. 

In  the  prelatical  system  of  church  government  in  Eng- 
land the  only  element  that  prevented  its  culminating  in  a 
sort  of  popedom  was  that  a  majority  of  its  clergy  or 
ministers  believed  and  preached  the  fundament  doctrines 
of  the  Bible  and  of  the  primitive  church,  in  respect  to  the 
plan  of  salvation  through  the  atonement  of  Christ. 
Though  trammeled  by  the  secular  and  often  irreligious 
influence  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  the  labors 
of  these  godly  ministers  are  grand  in  the  field  of  theology, 
and  have  been  fraught  with  untold  blessings  from  that 


8  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

day  to  this  to  the  English-speaking  people  of  the  world. 
The  English  people  of  that  day  were  far  better  prepared 
than  any  other  in  Europe  to  receive  and  appreciate  the 
doctrines  of  the  Bible,  because,  as  we  shall  see,  the  knowl- 
edge of  its  truths  to  a  much  greater  extent  had  permeated 
their  minds  than  in  the  case  of  the  people  on  the  conti- 
nent. In  addition  they  had  clearer  conceptions  of  their 
civil  rights. 


II. 

The  Reformation  in  England. 

The  Reformation  in  England,  owing  to  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances, assumed  one  phase  that  was  not  possible  to 
the  same  extent  on  the  Continent.  That  was  the  intelli- 
gent interest  and  the  earnest  part  which  the  common 
people  took  in  the  matter.  The  English,  says  D'Aubigne, 
the  historian  of  the  Reformation,  were  better  prepared  to 
accept  the  religious  movement  under  Luther  than  any 
other  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  because  they  had  more 
knowledge  than  they  of  the  Bible  and  its  truths.  They 
also  had  more  advanced  ideas  of  civil  liberty;  that 
knowledge  enabled  them  to  see  the  consistency  of  the 
principles  held  forth  in  the  Bible  in  connection  with  the 
freedom  of  man. 

Magna  Charta. — The  barons,  virtually  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  had  compelled  John — a  most  tyran- 
nical king — to  give  them  the  famous  Magna  Charta  in 
12 1 5.  This  document  secured  to  the  English  people, 
though  after  many  struggles  with  arbitrary  kings  and 
rulers,  what  they  called  "Englishmen's  Rights."  The 
first  instance,  as  far  as  we  know,  of  the  Scriptures  being 
given  in  their  own  tongue  to  the  English,  was  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  version  of  995  A.  D.  This  version  had  influence, 
no  doubt,  in  enabling  the  people  to  appreciate  their  indi- 
vidual rights  as  secured  by  the  great  Charta.  In  the  cen- 
tury (1324- 1 384)  following  the  granting  of  the  latter, 
appeared  John  Wyclif,  who  translated  the  Vulgate  into 
English,  and  who  also  boldly  proclaimed  the  doctrine — in, 
3 


lO  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

contradiction  of  the  assumed  authority  of  the  Pope — that 
the  Holy  Scriptures  were  the  only  supreme  authority  in 
the  church.  Saying:  "The  Holy  Spirit  teacheth  us  the 
sense  of  Scripture,  as  Christ  opened  the  Scripture  to  His 
Apostles."  The  English-speaking  people  in  every  land 
ought  to  recognize  the  obligations  they  are  under  to  that 
remarkable  man.  He  was  one  of  the  most  learned  men 
of  his  age ;  he  received  from  Oxford  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  with  the  title  of  "Evangelical  Gospel  Doctor," 
which  implies  he  made  the  Bible  a  special  study.  His 
translation  of  it  laid  the  foundation  for  that  well  known 
superiority  of  Bible  knowledge  among  the  English-speak- 
ing people,  when  compared  with  that  of  their  contem- 
poraries. 

His  translation  was  laboriously  transcribed  by  the  pen, 
as  printing  had  not  yet  been  invented.  These  manuscripts 
were  costly  and  held  by  the  people  as  sacred  treasures 
above  all  price.  The  Catholic  priests  did  all  they  could 
to  destroy  them,  and  thus  prevent  their  circulation.  These 
Scriptures  with  the  Magna  Charta  kept  the  English  far  in 
advance  of  those  on  the  Continent  in  respect  to  their  ideas 
of  religious  and  civil  liberty.  The  followers  of  Wyclif 
for  more  than  a  century  after  this  period  continued  to 
preach  the  same  doctrines  to  the  people  at  large.  For 
such  preaching  many  of  them  suffered  martyrdom.  Wy- 
clif was  the  Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation,  as  he  pre- 
ceded John  Huss  nearly  half  a  century — Wyclif  died  in 
1384,  and  Huss  perished  at  the  stake  in  1415. 

Tyndale's  Translation  of  the  Bible. — In  the  following 
century  (1484-1531)  William  Tyndale,  "a  hunted  man 
of  the  people,"  also  translated  the  Bible  into  the  common 
language.  This  version  was  far  in  advance  of  that  of 
Wyclif,  derived  from  the  Vulgate  alone.  Printing  was 
invented  by  Gutenberg  about  1450,  and,  in  consequence, 
the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  among  the  common  people 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    ENGLAND.  II 

was  very  much  increased.  For  thus  giving  the  word  of 
God  to  his  countrymen  in  their  own  tongue,  Tyndale  suf- 
fered martyrdom  on  October  6,  1536.  His  last  audible 
prayer  was:  "Lord,  open  the  eyes  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land." Henry  VHI.  died  eleven  years  afterward,  but  he 
had  previously  ordered  a  Bible — Tyndale's  translation — 
to  be  placed  in  every  church  in  England,  and  there  fas- 
tened to  the  desk,  but  free  for  the  people  to  read  for  them- 
selves, or  have  it  read  to  them.  In  this  way  the  people 
at  large  were  trained  in  religious  knowledge  and  also  in 
civil  rights. 

Englishmen's  Rights. — It  is  not  strange  that  under  such 
training  for  two  centuries  or  more  that  the  English  people 
demanded  and  acquired  for  themselves  what  they  were 
proud  to  call  "Englishmen's  Rights."  These  "Rights" 
included  civil  and  religious  liberty  to  an  extent  at  that 
time  nowhere  else  known;  these  sentiments  gave  a  great 
impulse  to  the  principles  embodied  in  the  Reformation, 
when  the  latter  were  made  known  to  the  people  at  large, 
whose  minds  were  thus  prepared  to  accept  them.  The 
English  reformers,  when  in  search  of  the  mode  of  gov- 
ernment in  the  primitive  church,  went  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment, wherein  they  found  that  the  members  of  the  church 
had  a  voice  in  their  religious  affairs. 

The  People  Have  a  Voice  in  Church  Government — 
This  practical  knowledge  of  civil  rights  led  the  English 
people  and  their  ministers  or  pastors  to  institute  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  manner  of  the  primitive  church  a  form 
of  government  in  which  the  church  members  had  a  voice. 
This  mode  is  learned  only  from  incidents  casually  men- 
tioned in  the  New  Testament.  For  illustration,  in  Acts, 
Chapter  vi.  is  given  an  account  of  the  reasons  for  the 
institution  of  the  office  of  deacon,  and  also  the  manner 
in  which  deacons  were  chosen.  They  were  elected  by  the 
church  members,  and  as  such  presented  to  the  Apostles; 


12  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

"and  when  they  had  prayed,  they  laid  their  hands  on 
them."  The  same  form  or  ceremony  of  the  "laying  on  of 
hands  of  the  presbyters"  is  recorded  incidentally  in  Tim- 
othy (I.  Tim.  iv.  14.),  when  a  preacher  of  the  word  was 
commissioned.  Here  we  learn  of  two  classes  of  officers 
in  the  church  government — deacons  and  elders  or  pres- 
byters. As  the  Apostles  applied  rules  or  ceremonies  to 
suit  the  exigencies  of  their  times,  so  did  the  English  Re- 
formers adopt  on  the  same  principle  a  mode  of  church 
government  that  w'as  adapted  to  their  own  times,  after 
they  had  thrown  off  the  authority  and  mode  of  the  Ro- 
mish hierarchy. 

All  the  Reformers  fell  back  upon  the  general  principles 
of  church  government,  which  were  inferred  from  the  inci- 
dental mention  of  the  same  in  the  New  Testament.  They 
adopted  the  government  by  presbyters — those  who  were 
to  teach  the  people,  or  the  ministry  or  ruling  elders,  whose 
duties  were  to  aid  in'  ministering  to  the  spiritual  wants 
of  the  flock;  but  both  were  the  servants,  in  a  Christian 
sense,  of  the  church  members. 

The  government  by  representatives  elected  by  the 
church  members,  under  the  names  of  elders  or  presby- 
ters, obtains  in  the  Reformed  churches  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe.  They  are,  however,  all  in  contrast  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  rule,  in  which  the  people  have  no  voice, 
and  formerly  to  a  great  extent  with  the  prelatical  mode 
that  prevails  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  also  in  the 
Episcopal  in  the  United  States.  In  the  latter  country, 
among  the  descendants  of  the  former  class  of  churches  on 
the  Continent,  are  the  Church  of  Holland's  daughter,  the 
Reformed  Dutch,  the  German  Reformed,  and  the  Lu- 
theran. 

Different  Forms  of  Church  Government. — At  the  time 
of  which  we  write,  in  England  the  voice  of  the  people  was 
much  more  pronounced  than  it  was  on  the  Continent, 


THE    REFORMATION     IN     ENGLAND.  I3 

owing  to  their  being  better  trained  in  civil  affairs  and  the 
exercise  of  "Englishmen's  rights."  In  consequence  of 
this  influence,  the  denominations  assumed  significant 
names  as  Congregationalists  or  Independents — because 
each  church  was  independent  of  any  sister  church — they 
were  practically  democratic,  as  the  government  of  their 
churches  was  in  the  hands  of  the  individual  members  of 
the  congregation,  and  who  voted  direct  on  all  church 
questions.  The  Presbyterian  system  was  equally  as  dem- 
ocratic in  principle  as  the  Congregational,  since  the 
power  was  also  in  the  hands  of  the  church  members.  As 
a  matter  of  expediency,  and  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
services  of  their  best  men,  the  members  of  individual 
churches  choose  those  of  their  own  number  whom  they 
deem  competent,  because  of  their  general  knowledge  and 
piety,  to  represent  them  in  any  form  that  was  necessary 
to  good  order.  These  representative  laymen  are  known  as 
elders  or  presbyters — the  latter  term  was  applied  only  to 
the  minister  or  pastor.  The  Presbyterian  system  is  dem- 
ocratic-republican. 

Henry  VIII.  as  Head  of  the  Church. — Theological  dis- 
cussions arose  between  the  Reformers  and  the  advocates 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  in  which  the  spiritual  char- 
acteriscics  and  doctrines  of  the  latter  were  subjected  to 
searching  inquiries,  as  to  their  consistency  with  the  truths 
of  the  Bible.  These  controversies  led  to  a  diligent  study 
of  the  doctrines  found  in  the  word  of  God,  not  alone  by 
the  learned  among  the  English  Reformers,  but  also  by  the 
people  themselves,  especially  those  who  had  access  to  the 
sacred  volume.  The  contest  became  of  absorbing  interest 
to  all.  These  religious  conflicts  continued  through  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  who,  meanwhile,  on  his  own  ac- 
count, had  a  personal  quarrel  with  the  Pope,  in  which  he 
unceremoniously  severed  the  English  Church  from  the 
authority  of  Rome,  and  had  the  audacity  to  place  himself 


14  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

at  its  head.  A  man  of  the  moral  character  of  Henry  was 
unable  to  appreciate  the  religious  elements  of  a  Chris- 
tian church,  which  he  looked  upon  as  so  dependent  on  the 
State  that  it  could  be  properly  used  to  promote  purely 
secular  ends,  as  well  as  his  own  private  designs,  though 
the  latter  might  be  immoral  in  their  character.  With 
him  the  religious  phase  of  the  question,  of  which  he  haa 
no  realizing  sense,  was  of  secondary  importance,  though 
it  was  all -important  in  the  eyes  of  his  Christian  subjects. 

The  Progress  of  the  English  People. — During  these 
years  of  trial  the  Christian  people  of  England  were  grop- 
ing their  way  to  a  higher  plane  of  religious  intelligence 
sand  political  freedom.  The  transition  from  civil  liberty  to 
the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  conscience  was  gradual, 
but  some  of  its  universal  reception  by  that  portion  of  the 
people  who  were  sufficiently  intelligent  to  take  in  the 
whole  situation. 

These  complex  ideas  gradually  penetrated  the  minds  of 
great  numbers  of  the  common  people  who  had  access  to 
the  word  of  God.  To  understand  the  remarkable  progress 
that  was  made  during  these  centuries  in  this  direction, 
we  must  take  into  consideration  the  unusual  self-reliance 
of  the  people,  and  the  organizing  characteristics  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  which  seemed  to  be  specially  endowed 
with  a  genius  for  self-government.  This  element  came 
into  play  in  the  organization  of  the  forms  of  church  gov- 
ernment that  obtained  in  England.  The  system  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State  was  antagonistic  to  this  free- 
dom of  action  exercised  by  the  Puritan  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  and  still  more  to  the  laity  taking  part  in  church 
government.  The  spirit  of  arbitrary  rule  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  time  of  Henry  VHI.  was  trans- 
ferred under  him  to  the  affairs  of  the  Church  of  England ; 
though  a  strong  opposition  to  that  domineering  spirit  was 
found  within  the  ranks  of  the  sturdy  lay  members. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    ENGLAND.  1 5 

Prelatical  System. — So  great  was  the  desire  of  the 
Puritan  ministers  to  promote  vital  piety  among  the  peo- 
ple themselves,  that  they  looked  upon  the  mode  of  church 
government  as  of  secondary  consideration  when  com- 
pared with  that  supreme  object.  They  wished  a  church 
stripped  of  the  excrescences  and  superstitious  errors  which 
during  the  Middle  Ages  had  vitiated  the  spiritual  princi- 
ples and  ordinances  of  the  primitive  church.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  prelatical  system  established  by  King 
Henry  and  fostered  by  his  daughter,  Queen  Elizabeth, 
during  her  long  reign,  made  the  Church  and  State  depend- 
ent upon  one  another.  In  addition  the  ground  was  taken 
that  all,  both  ministers  and  people,  ought  in  their  wor- 
ship conform  to  the  mode  and  ceremonies  instituted  by 
the  bishops  or  prelatists.  The  Puritans  looked  upon  any 
form  of  church  government,  when  religious  liberty  was 
not  infringed,  as  of  secondary  importance,  and  when  this 
arbitrary  demand  was  made  at  the  instigation  of  the  bish- 
ops, they  preferred  to  go  back  for  their  model  of  church 
government  to  the  primitive  church,  and  also  to  be  taught 
and  governed  by  spiritual  teachers  and  rulers  of  their 
own  choosing,  rather  than  by  those  appointed  by  the  sec- 
ular authorities,  often  composed  of  irreligious  men. 

The  Puritan  System. — There  were  differences  of 
opinion  among  the  Puritans  in  relation  to  the  mode  of 
church  government.  Some  preferred  Independency  or 
Congregationalism,  and  others  the  presbyterial  or  repre- 
sentative form,  but  as  the  mode  was  non-essential  to  the 
great  end  they  had  in  view,  that  of  preaching  the  gospel, 
these  differences  interfered  but  little  with  their  fraternal 
relations  with  one  another.  Afterward,  however,  when 
ambitious  men,  more  worldly  than  humbly  pious,  endeav- 
ored to  have  the  government  adopt  one  or  the  other  to  be 
supported  by  the  State,  the  uniform  fraternal  feeling  with- 
in the  ranks  of  the  Puritans  was  somewhat  diminished, 


l6  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

as  was  the  case  in  the  time  of  the  troubles  incident  to  the 
Commonwealth  era,  more  than  half  a  century  later. 

Origin  of  the  Union  of  Church  and  State. — As  the 
church  from  the  time  of  Constantine  (about  300,  A.  D.) 
had  been  in  connection  with  the  state,  that  came  to  be  con- 
sidered as  its  normal  condition.  The  Reformers  did  not 
at  once  grasp  the  many  spiritual  difficulties  that  arose 
from  the  connection ;  they  had  advanced  only  so  far  as  to 
discover  the  injury  to  spiritual  religion  in  having  irre- 
ligious men  as  government  officials  appointing  clergy- 
men to  positions  in  the  church.  Such  officials  were  us- 
ually incompetent  to  appreciate  the  spiritual  and  Christian 
qualifications  that  were  essential  to  the  correct  perform- 
ance of  the  duties  of  the  minister  or  pastor.  Thus  it  was 
in  the  Church  of  England  from  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 
forward.  The  question  as  to  the  good  or  evil  effects  of 
the  system  is  not  yet  settled,  neither  in  England  nor  in 
some  countries  on  the  Continent,  wherein  the  salaries  of 
certain  preachers  are  paid  by  the  government.  From  the 
nature  of  the  case,  preachers  or  bishops  thus  dependent 
for  their  living  or  position  in  the  church,  must  be  more 
or  less  trammeled  in  their  ministrations,  though  often, 
perhaps,  unconsciously. 

The  Exiles  Abroad — What  They  Learned. — We  can- 
not go  into  detail  of  the  struggles  of  the  Puritans — Inde- 
pendents and  Presbyterians — for  nearly  a  century  in 
working  out  the  system  that  they  afterward  accepted  as 
the  best  form  of  church  government.  Persecution  by  the 
prelatical  party  at  different  times  drove  numbers  of  these 
ardent  men  into  exile.  They  went  to  the  Continent,  and 
because  of  the  greater  freedom  enjoyed  there,  numbers 
made  their  homes  for  the  time  in  Switzerland.  There 
they  learned  more  clearly  concerning  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  government  and  the  scriptural  authority  for  its 
institution.     Through  the  influence  of  John  Calvin  that 


THE     REFORMATION     IN     ENGLAND.  1 7 

system  had  been  adopted  at  Geneva,  which  city  has  been 
characterized  as  at  that  time,  "The  MetropoHs  of  the 
Reformed  faith,  which  system  was  consoUdated  by  Cal- 
vin." When  these  exiles  returned  home  after  the  perse- 
cutions relaxed,  they  wished  that  simple,  yet  comprehen- 
sive system  to  be  adopted  in  England. 

So  little  importance  did  the  Puritans  attach  to  the  form 
of  church  government,  which  they  in  one  sense  deemed 
non-essential,  that  they  were  willing  as  a  compromise  that 
there  should  be  bishops — that  is,  ministers,  placed  over  a 
district  or  diocese,  if  such  bishops  were  to  be  responsible 
to  the  presbytery,  a  representative  body  of  the  minis- 
ters and  elders  of  the  church.  They  contended  that  a 
bishop  was  still  a  presbyter;  no  matter  how  high  the 
position  in  which  his  brethren  placed  him,  he  was  still  a 
presbyter — the  highest  order  in  the  primitive  church. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  is  promoted  by  his 
fellow-citizens  to  be  the  chief  servant  of  the  people,  yet 
he  is  still  a  citizen,  and  on  the  same  principle  the  minis- 
ter promoted  to  be  a  bishop  by  his  fellow-presbyters  is 
still  a  presbyter.  Even  John  Knox — that  staunch  pres- 
byterian — "held  episcopacy  to  be  lawful,  but  not  con- 
venient; an  allowable  form  of  government,  but  not  the 
purest  or  the  best."  Andrew  Melville,  another  Scotch 
reformer,  "held  episcopy  to  be  unlawful — opposed  to 
Scripture — allowable  in  no  circumstances." 


III. 

The  Parity  of  the  Ministry  or  Clergy. 

The  parity  of  the  gospel  ministry  is  based  on  the  words 
of  our  Lord  to  his  disciples  (Matt,  xxiii.  8,  lo) :  ''One 
is  your  Master,  even  Christ;  and  all  ye  are  brethren;" 
and  apparently  to  make  the  statement  more  emphatic  he 
subjoins:  "Neither  be  ye  called  masters;  for  one  is  your 
Master,  even  Christ;"  to  illustrate  still  further  He  adds; 
"But  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall  be  your  servant." 
From  these  passages  it  is  a  clear  inference  that  the  parity 
of  the  gospel  ministry  is  of  divine  origin  as  was  the  parity 
among  the  disciples  themselves.  The  same  principle  our 
Lord  illustrates  again  and  again.  When  the  ten  heard 
of  the  petition  of  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee  (Matt.  xx.  20- 
29)  "they  were  moved  with  indignation  against  the  two 
brethren."  But  the  Lord  rebukes  them  by  saying :  "Who- 
soever will  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant." 
On  another  occasion,  to  rebuke  their  worldly  ambition  in 
"wishing  to  be  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  mean- 
ing thereby  a  temporal  one  (Matt,  xviii.  1-4),  he  placed 
in  their  midst  a  little  child,  saying:  "Except  ye  be  con- 
verted and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  The  declaration  of  our 
Lord,  that  ye  are  brethren ;  I  am  your  Master,  is  as  strong 
in  its  assertion  as  that  made  again  and  again  in  the  old 
dispensation  that  Jehovah,  alone,  was  King  in  Israel. 

The  phrase  "whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,  let 
him  be  your  minister,"  can  mean  nothing  more  than  when 
the  presbyters  or  ministers  choose,  because  of  his  fit- 


THE     PARITY     OF    THE     MINISTRY    OR    CLERGY.  1 9 

ness,  one  of  their  number  for  some  particular  office,  in 
which  his  special  ability  can  be  utilized  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole — such  an  one  is  honored  as  their  chief  ser- 
vant. He  is  thus,  for  the  time  being,  placed  in  a  prom- 
inent but  temporary  position;  meanwhile,  his  status 
among  his  fellow  presbyters  remains  the  same  and  is  not 
affected  by  the  highest  honors  that  can  be  conferred 
upon  him  by  his  brethren.  Had  this  spirit  of  brotherly 
equality  and  the  injunction  to  love  one  another,  together 
with  the  application  of  the  Golden  Rule,  prevailed  in  the 
church  through  the  ages,  there  would  have  been  no  op- 
portunity for  one  man  or  set  of  men  to  usurp  authority 
over  the  church  members  and  their  pastors — in  conse- 
quence there  would  have  been  no  Pope  nor  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury. 

Significant  Names. — The  titles  giveu'their  preachers  or 
religious  teachers  by  these  denominations,  who  receive  the 
parity  of  the  ministry  as  a  truth  derived  from  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, are  very  significant — such  as  minister;  that  is,  one 
who  ministers  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  church  mem- 
bers; an  office  held  in  high  honor.  The  word  is  de- 
rived from  the  Latin,  and  means  a  servant.  The  word 
pastor  is  also  used,  but  it  applies  more  fully  to  a  minister 
in  charge  of  a  church  or  congregation.  Pastor  is  likewise 
of  Latin.origin,  but  it  is  a  perfect  translation  of  its  Greek 
counterpart,  which  means  a  shepherd.  In  the  New  Tes- 
tament the  word  designates  the  person  who  takes  care 
of  the  flock  or  the  members  of  the  church.  This*  form 
of  expression  came  over  from  the  Old  Testament  use  of 
the  Hebrew  word  meaning  a  shepherd,  as  seen  in  nu- 
merous illustrations  in  the  Psalms  and  elsewhere. 

The  terms  minister  or  pastor  are  designed  to  designate 
the  kindly  offices  of  those  who  bear  to  church  members 
the  endearing  relation  of  a  religious  teacher  and  adviser ; 
and  who  is  a  sympathizer  in  time  of  trouble  and  trials. 


20  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

which  may  be  in  the  form  of  spiritual  doubts,  or  of  do- 
mestic sorrows,  that  so  often  cross  the  paths  of  the  Chris- 
tian, as  well  as  of  those  who  are  not  of  the  fold  of  Christ. 

The  Term  Rector. — When  we  come  to  the  prelatical 
form  of  church  government,  we  find  instead  of  the  terms 
minister  or  pastor  that  of  rector.  This  word  is  derived 
from  a  Latin  verb,  signifying  to  rule.  It  carries  with  it, 
therefore,  the  savor  of  master  as  a  ruler,  and  is  devoid  of 
the  idea  of  consolation  and  trust  that  is  associated  with 
the  name  of  minister  or  pastor.  The  latter  title  suggests 
the  kindly  care  of  the  real  shepherd  toward  his  flock, 
which  sentiment  is  applied  in  a  figurative  sense  to  the 
pastor  of  the  members  of  a  church  or  congregation — his 
flock.  The  term  shepherd  is  found  in  the  Old  Testament 
in  numerous  instances  expressing  in  corresponding  figu- 
rative language  the  love  of  God  for  his  people.  Even 
Homer  describes  one  of  his  best  heroes  as  the  shepherd 
of  his  people. 

The  term  rector,  in  designating  the  religious  teacher 
and  guide  of  the  membership  of  a  Christian  church,  is 
unauthorized  in  the  New  Testament  in  form  and  in  spirit. 
In  spite  of  this  misnomer,  as  to  title,  we  find  in  our  day 
rectors  in  the  Episcopal  Church  who  are  devoted  minis- 
ters and  pastors  of  the  members  of  their  respective 
charges. 

The  term  minister  or  pastor  is  used  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church;  the  jurisdiction  of  their  bishops  is 
not  limited  to  dioceses,  but  pertains  to  the  whole  church. 
They  rejected  the  term  presbyter,  but  retained  that  of 
elder,  its  translation. 

The  question  suggests  itself,  why  did  the  worthies  of 
the  Church  of  England  discard  the  name  minister,  as  used 
by  our  Lord  himself,  and  as  used  by  Paul,  for  the  term 
rector?  History  supplies  the  answer.  The  word  rector 
as  applied  in  this  connection,  is  the  outgrowth  of  the 


THE     PARITY     OF     THE     MINISTRY     OR      CLERGY.  2  1 

absolute  and  arbitrary  rule  within  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  which  appeals  to  priestly  authority  alone  and  re- 
pudiates the  laity  having  a  voice  in  the  government  of 
that  church.  This  arbitrary  spirit  of  the  Roman  priest- 
hood and  method  of  church  government  passed  over  in  a 
somewhat  diluted  fortn  from  that  of  Rome  into  the 
Church  of  England.  In  like  manner  the  latter  has  imi- 
tated quite  often  certain  ceremonies  of  the  former.  The 
Church  of  England's  daughter,  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States,  when  adapting  its  organization  to 
the  new  order  of  things,  after  the  adoption  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  unfortunately  followed  the  Mother 
church  in  retaining  the  title  rector,  instead  of  using  terms 
so  expressive  and  consoling  as  minister  or  pastor. 

The  Non-Persecutors. — It  is  an  interesting  question, 
and  worthy  of  study,  why  those  denominations  which  held 
and  practised  the  parity  of  the  ministry  never  have  perse- 
cuted their  fellow-Christians  because  of  their  religious 
opinions.  To  this  noble  class  belong  the  Church  of  Hol- 
land, the  Waldenses,  Huguenots,  the  Lutherans  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  while  in  Great  Britain  and  in  her  , 
colonies  are  found  in  the  same  category  the  Independ- 
ents, the  Presbyterians  and  the  Baptists.  These  denom- 
inations have  different  views  on  non-essential  points,  but 
they  all  acknowledge  that  they  are  brethren,  according  to 
the  Lord's  injunction  to  his  disciples. 

History  records  cases  of  harsh  measures  against  cer- 
tain persons  on  a  part  of  a  few  who  held  the  doctrine 
of  the  parity  of  the  ministry,  as  for  illustration  in  the  case 
of  Roger  Williams.  In  the  latter  instance  it  was  not 
at  all  because  of  his  purely  religious  opinions,  but  of  his 
political,  which  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  thought 
would  destroy  all  order  and  government.  Roger  Wil- 
liams, though  possessing  many  admirable  traits  of  char- 
acter, was  certainly  very  eccentric.     "He  separated  him- 


22  A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

self  not  only  from  the  English  Church,  but  from  all  who 
would  not  separate  from  it  and  from  all  who  would  not 
separate  from  the  latter,  and  so  on,  until  he  could  no 
longer,  for  conscience'  sake,  hold  fellowship  with  his 
wife  in  family  prayers.  After  long  patience  the  colonial 
government  deemed  it  necessary  to  signify  to  him  that 
if  his  conscience  would  not  suffer  him  to  keep  quiet  and 
refrain  from  stirring  up  sedition  and  embroiling  the  col- 
ony with  the  English  government,  he  would  have  to  seek 
freedom  for  that  sort  of  conscience  outside  of  their  juris- 
diction, and  they  put  him  out  accordingly,  to  the  great 
advantage  of  both  parties  and  without  loss  of  mutual  re- 
spect and  love."  (Am.  Church  History  Series,  Vol.  XIII., 
p.  100,  L.  IV.  Bacon.) 

But  these  cases  of  harsh  measures  were  sporadic,  while 
the  persecutions  of  the  Romish  hierarchy  and  prelates 
of  the  Church  of  England  were  for  religious  opinions 
alone  and  on  principle,  a  bad  one  to  be  sure,  but  never- 
theless on  principle.  The  prelates  or  bishops  in  colonial 
times  instigated  persecutions  in  the  American  colonies, 
more  or  less  annoying,  against  those  whom  they  charac- 
terized "dissenters,"  until  such  power  was  taken  away 
by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
in  1788,  which  act,  established  in  this  land  religious  lib- 
erty on  a  true  and  firm  basis. 

Partial  Responsibility  of  a  Subordinate. — Those  de- 
nominations that  reject  the  parity  of  the  ministry,  are 
more  or  less  wedded  to  forms  in  their  church  services, 
though  it  is  difficult  to  find  in  the  mode  of  worship  in  the 
primitive  church  authority  for  such  forms.  There  can 
be  no  parity  of  the  clergy  where  one  minister  is  a  subor- 
dinate to  another  as  his  superior — his  bishop.  That 
bishop  is  that  minister's  superior — in  a  certain  sense  a 
master — when  the  Lord  Jesus  said:  "One  is  your  Mas- 
ter, even  Christ ;  ye  are  brethren,"  on  an  equality,  before 


THE    PARITY     OF     THE    MINISTRY     OR     CLERGY.  23 

me  and  among  yourselves.  Under  such  circumstances 
there  exists  on  the  part  of  the  bishop  a  sense  of  authority 
over  the  rectors  of  his  diocese,  while  on  their  part  there 
is  a  sense  of  inferiority  in  the  presence  of  their  bishop. 
This  sentiment  must  diminish  to  an  equal  degree  the 
sense  of  individual  responsibility  on  the  part  of  the  sub- 
ordinate rector.  Inasmuch  as  the  responsibility  that 
should  be  rendered  to  the  Master  himself  is  diminished 
by  the  fact  that  it  is  given  partially  to  the  bishop.  From 
the  nature  of  the  case  it  must  be  so;  there  is  no  denying 
the  lack  of  the  sense  of  responsibility,  when  to  do  this 
or  that  the  permission  must  come  from  a  superior,  with 
whom  the  ordinary  clergyman  does  not  and  cannot  feel 
himself  recognized  in  the  true  sense — a  brother  in  equal 
standing.  This  feeling  springs  spontaneously  toward  one 
of  their  number,  who  may  be  consecrated  as  bishop.  The 
latter  is  more  than  primus  inter  pares,  for  he  never  lays 
down  his  office  nor  returns  to  the  ranks.  On  the  con- 
trary, among  those  who  hold  and  practise  the  parity  of 
the  ministry,  an  officer,  it  may  be  a  moderator  of  a  synod 
or  president  of  a  congregational  association,  as  soon  as 
his  term  of  office  expires  he  returns  to  the  ranks.  Be- 
cause of  the  confidence  that  his  brethren  repose  in  him 
they  make  him  their  honored  representative  servant,  and 
as  such  they  respect  the  office  and  its  incumbent  for  the 
time  being,  giving  diligence  to  conform  to  the  rules  that 
he  is  authorized  by  his  peers  to  enforce,  and  no  further. 
Ministers  or  pastors  under  such  conditions  realize  that 
their  responsibility  is  to  the  Master  supreme,  and  that 
it  is  not  divided  between  that  Master  and  a  human  su- 
perior as  a  bishop.  The  sense  of  this  responsibility  is  a 
stimulant  to  the  performance  of  duty  to  the  Lord  alone. 

The  two  divine  principles  the  parity  of  the  clergy  or 
ministry  and  the  Golden  Rule,  if  recognized  and  applied 
in  the  government  of  the  Church,  would  necessarily  free 


24  A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

it  from  the  evil  of  one  portion  of  the  ministry  domineering 
over  another.  Under  such  conditions  there  would  be  no 
abuse  of  the  Lord's  rule,  "ye  are  brethren,"  nor  ecclesias- 
tical tyranny. 

Apostolic  Succession. — The  Presbyterian  Church  de- 
rives the  authority  for  her  ministry  from  the  Apostles 
and  they  direct  fro'm  the  Master  himself.  This  is  an 
Apostolic  succession,  but  not  a  succession  of  Apostles. 
The  latter — to  whom  Paul  was  admitted,  for  did  he  not 
see  the  Lord? — had  special  gifts,  and  they  were  also  able 
personally  to  bear  witness  of  His  life.  His  death  and  res- 
urrection, but  these  qualifications  they  could  not  trans- 
mit to  successors.  They  were  authorized  by  the  Head 
of  the  Church  "to  ordain  elders  (presbyters)  in  every 
church,"  to  perform  the  sacred  duties  of  teachers  and 
rulers,  and  they  in  turn  to  ordain  similar  officers.  This 
was  a  genuine  Apostolic  succession,  which  embraced  suc- 
cessive generations  of  elders  or  ministers  thus  set  apart 
to  the  services  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

"Presbyterians  believe  in  a  succession  from  the  Apos- 
tles ;  in  a  historic  episcopate — not  diocesan  but  pastoral — • 
which  runs  back  through  a  long  line  of  ordained  pres- 
byters to  the  very  men  whom  the  Lord  Christ 
chose  to  found  and  organize  His  Church."  (Presbyte- 
rian Doctrine,  by  H.  Van  Dyke,  p.  i8.)  Again:  "Pres- 
byterianism  recognizes  that  the  pope  and  the  prelates 
are  presbyters,  but  declines  to  recognize  them  as  of  high- 
er order  than  presbyters.  For  presbyters  are  the  gen- 
uine bishops  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the  true  apostolic 
succession  is  in  the  presbyters  who  have  been  ordained 
by  the  Apostles  and  their  successors  from  the  foundations 
of  the  Christian  Church  until  the  present  time.  It  has 
the  true  apostolic  succession  in  striving  after  the  apos- 
tolic faith  in  its  purity,  integrity  and  fulness."  (Am. 
Pres.,  p.  82.) 


\ 


THE    PARITY     OF     THE    MINISTRY     OR     CLERGY.  25 

Humanly  speaking  it  would  seem  strange  that  the  au- 
thority to  ordain  ministers  to  the  sacred  office  was  left 
by  the  Divine  Master  to  the  contingencies  incident  to  a 
line  composed  of  individual  men,  rather  than  to  the  whole 
body  of  elders  to  ordain  by  ''the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
the  Presbytery"  (I.  Tim.  iv.  14)  ;  all  of  whose  members 
are  equal  as  brethren,  in  accordance  with  the  Lord's  in- 
structions and  admonitions.  The  former  mode  may  be 
illustrated  by  a  chain  made  up  of  a  number  of  individual 
links,  if  one  drops  out  the  chain  is  worthless;  the  latter, 
by  the  cable  of  a  suspension  bridge,  which  is  composed  of 
numerous  strands  of  wire.  In  the  one  case  the  lost  link 
is  fatal  to  the  whole  system ;  in  the  other  the  many  strands 
preclude  such  fatality 

The  theory  of  the  Apostolic  succession,  as  held  in  the 
Church  of  England  and  by  a  class  in  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States,  known  as  High  Church,  le- 
gitimately leads  to  the  denial  of  the  validity  of  the  ordi- 
nation of  the  ministry  in  the  other  denominations  of 
Christians.  This  is  a  remarkable  phase  of  ecclesiastical 
and  arrogant  assumption,  especially  in  the  face  of  the 
fact  that  these  denominations  have  been  marvelously  blest 
by  the  Master  in  their  efforts  to  bring  sinners  to  repent- 
ance and  to  the  Saviour. 

Suppose  it  were  true  "that  (church)  sacraments  arc 
valid  only  when  dispensed  by  episcopally-ordained 
priests ;  what  should  we  expect  to  find  ?  Why,  this :  that 
the  spiritual  life  of  Christendom  shouM  be  restricted  to 
Episcopal  communions,  while  beyond  their  pale,  in  the 
Churches  of  the  Reformation,  neither  Christian  faith  nor 
Christian  holiness,  for  the  last  three  hundred  years, 
should  have  been  preserved" — a  ministry  "holding  by  the 
Divine  will  a  monopoly  of  grace  ought  to  be  the  bright 
conspicuous  seats  (examples)  of  every  virtue  and  of 
Christlike  service  for  mankind."  Why  should  not  such 
4 


26  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

benign  influence  also  reach  the  private  members  of  such 
church  and  make  them,  preeminently,  models  in  their 
self-denial  for  Christ's  sake,  and  in  their  utter  repudiation 
of  the  vanities  of  the  fashionable  world?  (Anglican  View 
of  the  Church,  by  Dr.  J.  Oswald  Dykes,  p.  zj.) 

The  deliberate  opinion  of  numbers  of  eminent  scholars 
and  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  on  the  extreme 
view  of  the  "Apostolic  succession,"  and  also  as  to  the 
"post-apostolic  origin  of  the  episcopacy,"  should  have 
great  weight  with  every  class  of  intelligent  Protestant 
laymen.  That  eminent  historian,  Dean  Milman,  char- 
acterizes the  "historic  episcopate"  as  "the  fiction  of  ec- 
clesiastical vanity  and  baseless."  Archbishop  Whately, 
Bishop  Lightfoot,  Dr.  Hatch,  Canon  Farrar,  Dean  Stan- 
ley "rob  the  episcopate  of  its  priority,"  says  the  last  men- 
tioned. "It  is  sure  that  nothing  like  modern  episcopacy 
existed  before  the  close  of  the  first  century.  That  which 
was  once  the  Gordian  knot  of  theologians  has  been  un- 
tied, not  by  the  sword  of  persecution,  but  by  the  patient 
unravelment  of  scholarship." 


IV. 
A  Peculiar  Phase  of  Reform. 

The  religious  movement  originating  in  the  Reforma- 
tion under  Luther  assumed  a  pecuHar  phase  in  England, 
owing  to  the  characteristics  of  the  people  themselves. 
This  phase  was  designated  Puritanism  by  its  enemies, 
but  it  soon  commanded  the  latter's  respect  by  the  power 
of  its  intense  earnestness  in  efforts  to  reform  the  church 
and  to  promote  a  true  and  inner  religious  or  vital  piety  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  We  of  this  later  age  and  of 
more  knowledge  and  truer  interpretation  of  the  Bible, 
and  under  the  influence  of  the  amenities  of  a  more  ad- 
vanced Christianized  civilization,  may  smile  at  what  we 
term  the  crudities  of  those  days.  Notwithstanding  all 
that,  how  grandly  those  Puritans  filled  their  sphere  of 
duty  in  their  day  and  generation.  Their  mode  of  Chris- 
tian action  was  different  from  the  similar  religious  move- 
ments on  the  Continent,  because  their  presentation  of 
truth  came  directly  home  to  a  people  better  trained  in 
biblical  knowledge  and  in  relation  to  their  civil  rights 
than  those  of  the  different  nations  on  the  Continent.  The 
people  of  the  latter  that  came  nearest  to  the  Anglo-Saxons 
in  that  respect  were  those  who  occupied  the  district  of 
Switzerland,  of  which  Geneva  was  the  principal  city. 

A  Religions  Force. — Puritanism  as  a  religious  force 
was  antagonistic  to  the  numerous  evi/s  that  were  the 
outgrowth  of  a  corrupt  form  of  Christianity ;  and  it  was  so 
radical  in  its  principles  that  it  wished  to  strip  the  church 
of  these  excrescences,  and  go  back  for  a  model  to  the 


28  A    HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

heart-religion  of  the  primitive  church.  To  do  which  it 
saw  no  other  way  than  to  stamp  out  the  forms  of  wor- 
ship and,  in  its  opinion,  superstitious  errors  that  prevailed. 
It  was  not  satisfied  with  that  gain  alone;  it  wished,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  assimilate  its  mode  of  church  govern- 
ment to  that  which  was  instituted  by  the  early  church  and 
adapt  it  to  the  exigencies  of  an  age  far  distant,  and  under 
far  different  circumstances.  Hence  the  Puritan  would 
strip  off  all  extraneous  ceremonies  that  had  been  intro- 
duced in  the  Middle  Ages,  in  order  to  allure  the  semi- 
barbarous  peoples  of  those  times  by  means  attractive  to 
the  eye.  Its  inherent  force  consisted  in  an  ardent,  heart- 
felt, spiritual  religion  of  the  primitive  type,  which  recog- 
nized the  truths  of  the  Bible  as  paramount  to  the  teach- 
ings of  men. 

Self -Sup  porting  Church — Its  Spirituality  Enhanced. — 
It  seems  strange  that  the  Puritans  in  going  back  to  early 
Christianity — before  the  year  300 — for  their  system  of 
church  government,  were  unable  to  realize  and  act  upon 
the  historical  fact  that  the  church  of  that  period  was  en- 
tirely unconnected  with  the  secular  government  of  the 
time  and  was  self-supporting.  In  consequence,  it  was 
free  to  preach  the  gospel  without  being  interfered  with  by 
a  secular  authority,  which  claimed  a  voice  in  the  manage- 
ment of  its  spiritual  affairs  on  the  plea  that  it  paid  the 
salaries  of  the  preachers  and  also  bore  other  expenses 
Let  us  be  charitable  toward  these  good  men,  who  were 
unable  at  once  to  grasp  the  situation  in  all  its  bearings. 
The  union  of  Church  and  State  came  down  to  them — a 
legacy  of  the  ages — since  the  question  or  policy  of  the 
disseverence  of  the  two  had  not  even  been  suggested. 

As  the  union  of  Church  and  State  had  been  established 
for  centuries,  the  Reformers  accepted  the  arrangement  as 
the  best  for  both  parties.  When  they  went  back  to  the 
primitive  church  as  their  model  in  doctrine  and  church 


A   PECULIAR    PHASE    OF    REFORM.  29 

government,  they  all  recognized  the  parity  of  the  minis- 
try, but  failed  to  notice  the  fact  that  the  primitive  church 
was  free  from  state  influence — except  as  an  inimical 
force  for  nearly  three  hundred  years.  That  the  state  in- 
stead of  fostering  Christianity  was  its  persecutor  and  bit- 
terest foe,  and  in  almost  every  form  opposed  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel,  yet  in  spite  of  all  this  the  spirituality  of 
the  church  grew  and  the  number  of  its  members  m- 
creased  continually,  and  during  those  three  centuries  the 
church  was  self-supporting.  The  leading  Reformers  took 
for  granted  that  the  existing  relations  between  the  church 
and  the  state  was  a  proper  one;  and  it  appears  never  to 
have  occurred  to  them  that  for  the  church  to  be  freed 
entirely  from  secular  influence  might  possibly  promote 
its  spirituality  and  success  They  did  not  raise  the  ques- 
tion whether  it  was  better  for  the  spirituality  of  the 
church  to  be  entirely  disconnected  with  the  state,  and 
thereby  avoid  the  evils  incident  to  its  being  used  for 
selfish  purposes  By  ambitious  and  unchristian  men.  They 
never  broached  the  idea  of  the  church  going  back  to  the 
primitive  mode  of  being  supported  by  the  voluntary  con- 
tributions of  its  own  members,  rather  than  for  their  min- 
isters to  draw  their  salaries  from  the  public  treasury. 

The  Jus  Divinum  Doctrine. — On  the  other  hand,  the 
question  with  them  was  which  denomination  had  a  sys- 
tem of  church  government  that  had  the  divine  sanction, 
jus  divinum,  as  they  termed  it.  Such  denomination  would 
of  course  be  adopted  as  the  State  Church.  This  question 
was  agitated  more  or  less  in  England  for  about  a  cen- 
tury; and  it  remained  to  be  discussed  and  settled  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  afterward  in  the  new  world, 
(See  p.  .) 

The  prelatical  party  had  the  doubtful  advantage  after 
the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  of  being  the  State  Church,  and 
then  the  Independents  under  Cromwell,  and  for  a  short 


3©  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

time  the  Presbyterians  under  the  supervision  o^  ambitious 
men.  The  English  Parhament  in  1645  wished  the  divines, 
who  were  then  in  session  framing  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  to  give  their  views  on  the  subject  of  a 
jure  divino  form  of  church  government.  The  mere  form 
of  such  government  is  non-essential  in  itself,  and  may  be 
also  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel  of  Christianity.  The 
principles  are  so  comprehensive  that  the  form  is  but  a 
convenience  to  suit  the  people  and  the  age,  but  not  to 
interfere  with  the  spirituality  of  the  church  members 
themselves. 

True  Relation  of  the  Church  to  the  State. — It  seems 
that  only  a  very  limited  number  of  the  Puritans  doubted 
the  expediency  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State.  The 
exiles,  when  they  returned  from  the  Continent  in  Eliz- 
abeth's reign,  brought  with  them  clearer  and  more  decided 
views  on  the  subject,  and  which  were  far  in  advance  of 
those  they  formerly  held.  These  advanced  opinions  were 
the  outgrowth  of  their  intercourse  with  the  reformers  on 
the  Continent,  especially  with  John  Calvin.  To  this  in- 
fluence may  be  traced  the  clear  definition  of  the  relation  of 
the  state  or  magistrate  to  the  church,  which  was  after- 
ward, and  for  the  first  time,  put  forth  distinctly  by  the 
Westminster  Divines  (1643-5),  nearly  all  of  whom  were 
Presbyterians.  Therein  it  was  clearly  stated  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  state  to  protect  the  church  in  its  rights 
as  a  religious  body,  but  the  church  was  in  no  sense  to  be 
interfered  with  in  its  legitimate  functions,  nor  as  such 
controlled  by  the  state.  The  church  was  not  to  be  put 
under  obligations  to  the  secular  power,  whereby  its  re- 
ligious influence  could  be  diminished. 


V. 


The  Presbyterians  and  Puritans  in  Henry  VIII.'S 

Reign. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  writing  to  give  an  ac- 
count in  detail  of  the  many  conflicts  that  occurred  be- 
tween the  two  main  reHgious  parties — the  prelatical  and 
the  puritan  or  presbyterian — during  the  period  com- 
mencing with  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI.  and  ending  with 
that  of  EHzabeth — about  ninety  years.  The  freedom  of 
thought  and  its  free  expression,  as  involved  in  the  theory 
of  "EngHshmen's  Rights,"  led  to  an  almost  continuous 
discussion  of  theological  questions  during  this  period,  and 
to  a  greater  number  of  religious  sects  in  England  than  in 
any  other  country  of  Europe.  These  discussions  cleared 
the  theological  atmosphere  and  in  the  end  led  to  grand 
results  in  the  way  of  harmony  by  means  of  preparing 
summaries  of  doctrine  as  exponents  of  the  truths  of  the 
word  of  God.  These  were  the  harbingers  of  the  formu- 
lating in  the  next  century  the  Westminster  Confession, 
the  most  elaborate  of  all,  and  which  has  had  the  greatest 
number  of  adherents.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  century 
in  which  there  was  manifested  an  unusual  desire  to  draw 
up  formularies  of  doctrine. 

Confessions  of  Faith — Among  the  Puritans,  those  who 
held  the  presbyterial  form  of  church  government,  were 
strenuous  advocates  for  formulating  creeds  of  systematic 
theology  deduced  from  the  truths  of  the  Bible.  The  Pres- 
byterians of  Scotland  drew  up  a  Confession  (1560)  the 
handiwork  of  John  Knox — that  man  so  bold  amid  eccle- 


32  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

siastical  dangers,  and  withal  remarkable  for  his  ability 
and  integrity.  The  Puritan  element  in  the  prelatical  party 
prepared  the  XXXIX  Articles  of  that  church  (1563); 
and  the  Presbyterians  of  Ireland,  also,  drew  up  a  con- 
fession (1615),  while  among  the  Reformed  on  the  Con- 
tinent several  creeds  were  formulated.  In  this  turmoil 
of  theological  discussions  the  ablest  intellects  and  most 
learned  men  of  the  time,  clerical  and  laymen,  took  part. 

The  Two  Parties. — There  were  at  this  time  two  dis- 
tinct parties  among  the  Christians  of  England — the  Pre- 
latical or  Bishops'  party,  the  latter  took  their  inspiration 
as  to  church  polity  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  while  the 
Puritans,  which  included  Presbyterians  and  Independents 
or  Congregationalists,  derived  theirs  from  the  primitive 
church.  The  prelatists,  sustained  by  royalty,  kept  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  During  these  times 
many  Puritans  suffered  martyrdom,  especially  in  Bloody 
Mary's  reign,  such  as  the  evangelical  Bishops  Latimer 
and  Ridley.  Meanwhile  great  numbers  of  the  Reformers, 
on  account  of  these  relentless  persecutions,  fled  to  the 
Continent,  and  did  not  return  until  the  commencement  of 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  During  Bloody  Mary's  reign  of 
■five  years  280  Puritans  and  Presbyterians  were  put  to 
death,  Hve  of  whom  were  evangelic  bishops  who  were 
burned  at  the  stake.  Mary  was  under  the  control  of  Ro- 
man Catholic  priests.  Such  sufferings  tried  men's  souls, 
but  during  all  these  years  the  Puritans  in  England  were 
rising  to  a  higher  plane  of  piety  and  learning,  and  to  a 
better  appreciation  of  religious  liberty.  Many  of  those 
driven  into  exile  went  to  Geneva  and  studied  in  the  school 
of  John  Calvin,  in  which  was  moulded  a  consistent  system 
of  theology.  They  returned  still  better  prepared  to  enter 
into  the  struggles  for  the  truth.  To  be  sure,  during  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth  but  few  comparatively  of  the  Reform- 
ers suffered  death,  but  their  ministers  were  treated  out- 


HENRY    VIII. 'S    REIGN.  33 

rageously;  they  and  their  famiHes  were  often  reduced  to 
beggary  by  being  deprived  of  their  livings,  because  they 
conscientiously  refused  to  conform  to  the  Romanizing 
and  arbitrary  demands  of  the  Queen's  bishops ;  they  were 
thrown  into  prisons  and  treated  in  a  manner  more  harrow- 
ing than  death  itself.  The  intelligent  laity  became  more 
and  more  incensed  at  the  bishops,  while  the  main  body  of 
the  common  people  began  to  sympathize  with  the  perse- 
cuted. But  when  the  time  of  danger  came  in  the  form 
of  attempts  at  invasion  by  the  Armada,  none  were  more 
loyal  to  their  Queen  and  country  than  these  persecuted 
ministers  and  their  people. 

The  Heroic  Age. — "Puritanism  was  the  great  religious 
force  of  the  seventeenth  century;  the  most  powerful  in- 
fluence in  British  thought  and  life  since  the  Reforma- 
tion." In  religious  affairs  "the  Puritan  era  is  the  heroic 
age  of  Great  Britain  and  of  America.  In  it  were  laid  the 
foundations  for  all  that  is  noblest  and  best  in  subsequent 
times.  *  *  *  This  unifying  principle  has  been  at 
work  as  the  most  potent  force  in  Anglo-Saxon  history; 
working  through  many  generations  of  conflict,  chang- 
ing intolerance  into  toleration,"  The  Puritans  empha- 
sized preaching  rather  than  the  sacraments  and  public 
prayer.  When  the  preachers  were  silenced  in  the 
churches,  pious  laymen  established  lectureships,  and  the 
work  of  exposition  went  on  with  greater  freedom  and  re- 
doubled energy.  *  *  *  By  persecution  the  Puritans* 
were  constrained  to  be  great  preachers,  and  they  en- 
joyed the  gift  and  learned  the  art  of  free  prayer.  *  *  * 
The  preaching  of  the  gospel  and  the  prayer-meeting  have 
been  two  leading  features  in  all  Puritan  regions.  *  *  * 
The  non-conforming  churches  of  England,  the  Presbyte- 
rian churches  of  Scotland,  and  Puritan  churches  of  Amer- 
ica have  maintained  their  preeminence  in  this  respect. 
The  gift  of  prayer  has  been  bestowed  in  marvelous  rich- 


34  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

ness  and  efficacy  upon  these  churches."  (Am.  Pres.,  pp. 

27,  39-) 

Harmony  of  Beliefs. — In  that  day  the  study  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  by  the  EngHsh  theologians  of  both  parties  in- 
duced a  similarity  of  views  on  the  essential  doctrines  of 
Christianity;  such  as  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
themselves,  which  being  thus  accepted  as  the  word  of 
God,  they  in  consequence  became  the  rule  of  Christian 
faith.  We  have  in  our  own  day  a  parallel  case.  The  fa- 
cilities for  the  study  of  the  Bible,  especially  in  the  tongues 
in  which  it  was  originally  written,  have  been  wonder- 
fully increased  within  the  last  hundred  years.  These 
aids  are  in  the  form  of  elaborately  prepared  lexicons  and 
critical  commentaries;  the  results  of  the  unremitting  toil 
of  learned  and  conscientious  men;  these  helps  are  util- 
ized by  students  in  all  the  Protestant  theological  semi- 
naries in  the  land.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  that  is 
cheering  to  the  heart  of  the  church,  that  in  the  evangel- 
ical denominations  of  to-day,  the  clergymen  and  the  in- 
telligent laity,  who  thus  study  the  word  of  God,  are  more 
at  one  in  their  cordial  acceptance  of  the  essential  truths 
of  Christianity  than  ever  before. 

The  XXXIX.  Articles. — The  Puritan  element  within 
the  prelatical  ranks  formulated  the  XXXIX.  Articles  of 
the  Church  of  England  (1563).  This  compendium  of 
scriptural  truth  has  taken  its  place  among  the  confes- 
sions of  the  Reformed  churches.  Article  VI.  says :  "Holy 
Scripture  containeth  all  things  necessary  to  salvation,  so 
that  whatever  is  not  read  therein,  nor  may  be  proved 
thereby,  is  not  to  be  required  of  any  man  that  it  should 
not  be  believed  as  an  article  of  faith."  John  Wyclif,  a 
hundred  years  before,  had  proclaimed  that:  "The  Holy 
Spirit  teacheth  us  the  sense  of  Scripture  as  Christ  opened 
the  Scriptures  to  his  Apostles."  Thus  the  position  of 
the  Bible  as  the  Christian's  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 


HENRY    VIII. 'S    REIGN.  35 

practice  was  set  forth  by  the  followers  of  Wyclif,  and  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  doctrine  was  familiar  to  the  lead- 
ing minds  among  the  common  people.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  bishop  or  prelatical  party  "rallied  around  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer"  and  demanded  uniformity  to  it,  but 
"the  Puritans  took  their  stand  on  the  6th  Article  of  the 
XXXIX.,  and  contended  that  the  Romish  and  unscrip- 
tural  things  should  be  removed  from  the  Prayer  Book." 
There  were  at  this  time  two  classes  of  bishops,  the  Ro- 
manizing, who,  encouraged  by  royalty,  wished  to  bring 
the  English  Church  into  closer  connection  with  that  of 
Rome,  and  the  Puritan  or  evangelical  bishops,  who  earn- 
estly desired  to  protect  and  promote  true  religion.  This 
evangelical  spirit  cropped  out  occasionally  among  the 
clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  during  the  next  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  finally  burst  forth  in  all  its 
splendor  in  the  times  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley  and 
George  Whitefield 


VI. 


The  Presbyterians  in  the  Reigns  of  Elizabeth  and 

James. 

The  struggles  of  the  Puritans  with  the  Romanizing 
bishops  of  EHzabeth  reign  were  severe,  while  often  the 
form  of  persecution  was  changed.  All  these  outrages  of 
the  Bishops  were  connived  at  by  the  wordly,  politic  and 
insincere  Queen.  Some  of  these  friends  of  religious  lib- 
erty and  truth  suffered  martyrdom;  meanwhile  great 
numbers  of  their  leaders  and  pastors  were  fined,  impris- 
oned or  driven  into  exile,  because  their  conscience  for- 
bid them  to  use  in  their  worship  the  ritual  and  prayer- 
book  enjoined  by  the  prelatical  party,  as  they  looked  upon 
the  latter  as  containing  unscriptural  expressions  and 
sentiments.  The  Reformed  churches  of  that  day,  for  the 
greater  part,  used  in  their  worship  a  book  containing 
prayers,  the  latter  custom  having  passed  over  from  the 
Romish  into  the  Protestant  churches.  The  Puritans  were 
groping  their  way  and  learning  the  truth  from  year  to 
year  as  they  progressed  in  their  study  of  Holy  Scripture. 
They  ascertained  there  were  sentiments  or  doctrines  em- 
bodied in  these  prayers  that  had  no  scriptural  authority, 
and  therefore  they  wished  the  book  to  be  purged  of  these 
objectionable  features. 

The  Formation  of  a  Presbytery. — In  Elizabeth's  reign 
it  required  great  diligence  to  avoid  the  spies  and  inform- 
ers in  the  interests  of  the  bishops.  Toward  the  end  of 
her  reign  the  Presbyterian  element  among  the  Puritans 
formed  secretly  an  organization  out  of  which  grew  a 


REIGNS    OF    ELIZABETH    AND    JAMES.  37 

Presbytery,  which  was  constituted  in  1572.  A  book  of 
discipHne  was  drawn  up,  and  after  much  friendly  discus- 
sion and  revisions,  was  adopted  in  1590.  This  disciphne 
or  Confession  was  subscribed  to  by  about  500  minis- 
ters, residing  in  different  counties  in  England.  To  ac- 
complish this  much  it  took  nearly  twenty  years  of  assid- 
uous care  in  holding  secret  meetings.  The  bishops  by 
means  of  sneaking  spies,  having  learned  of  the  move- 
ment, became  greatly  alarmed  and  to  suppress  such  op- 
position to  their  mandates  renewed  their  persecutions 
more  vigorously  than  ever. 

The  Independents  Unorganised. — It  is  to  be  noted  in 
this  controversy  that  the  Presbyterian  element  among  the 
Puritans  organized  presbyteries  in  opposition  to  the  pre- 
lactical  powers.  The  Congregational  or  Independent  ele- 
ment, as  individuals,  manifested  their  opposition  to  the 
bishops,  but  they  took  no  measures  to  organize  as 
churches  in  having  a  confession  of  faith  to  unite  them 
as  a  body  in  order  to  wield  their  power  in  a  concentrated 
form.  This  was  the  legitimate  result  of  each  church  hav- 
ing no  organic  connection  with  other  churches.  The  in- 
dependent mode  of  church  government  led  to  the  isolation 
of  the  respective  churches  and  tended  to  limit  their  influ- 
ence, because  of  their  being  thus  restricted.  It  also  had  a 
tendency  to  engender  the  selfishness  of  individual 
churches,  since  they  had  no  special  means  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  wants  of  their  brethren,  even  in  the 
churches  of  their  own  order,  and  consequently  there  was 
a  lack  of  sympathy  with  one  another.  At  this  crisis,  there- 
fore, they  had  no  organization  to  oppose  the  high-handed 
measures  of  the  bishops,  since  such  organized  efifort  was 
inconsistent  with  their  mode  of  church  government,  but 
as  individuals  they  were  the  equals  of  their  Presbyterian 
brethren  in  withstanding  prelatical  assumptions,  but  their 
concentrated  energies  was  unutilized,  because  of  the  isola- 


38  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

tion  of  each  church's  membership.  In  the  following  cen- 
tury the  Independents  or  Congregationalists,  under  Oli- 
ver Cromwell,  manifested  great  strength  and  energy  in 
an  organization  that  was  of  a  church  militant  order. 
That  organization  was  the  outcome  of  the  arbitrary  and 
indomitable  will  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  In  spite  of  the 
theories  of  Independency,  he  forced  the  Congregational- 
ists into  a  compact  body — but  only  to  disintegrate  as  soon 
as  the  master  mind  was  gone. 

The  Primitive  Church  Self -Supporting. — ^While  these 
troubles  were  agitating  the  people  of  England,  similar 
trials  were  in  progress  in  Scotland,,  where  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  was  in  connection  with  the  state.  That 
form  of  church  government  by  elders  and  presbyters  had 
been  established  in  Scotland  through  the  efforts  of  John 
Knox  and  Andrew  Melville,  in  the  reign  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots. 

The  union  of  church  and  state  in  that  day  was  deemed 
essential  for  the  support  of  the  Christian  religion.  It  is 
remarkable  that  it  did  not  occur  to  these  good  men  that 
the  primitive  church  held  itself  aloof  from  any  alliance 
with  the  Roman  government,  and  was  of  itself  self-sup- 
porting. Though  the  heathen  priesthood  and  the  secu- 
lar authorities  of  the  empire  were  hostile  to  the  Christian 
religion,  yet  it  so  far  prevailed  in  numbers  that  at  the 
end  of  300  years  the  government,  as  a  matter  of  state 
policy  and  of  its  own  accord  under  Constantine,  consti- 
tuted it  the  state  religion  by  a  decree,  thus  repudiating 
heathenism.  From  that  day  forward  the  alliance  of  the 
church  with  the  secular  power  has  been  more  or  less  a 
retarding  influence  in  the  progress  of  a  pure  and  a  spir- 
itual life  among  the  church  members ;  especially  may  this 
be  said  of  those  who  were  in  any  way  connected  with  the 
court  or  under  royal  influence. 

King  James — His  Character. — King    James    VI.    of 


THE    REIGNS     OF     ELIZABETH    AND    JAMES.  39 

Scotland  and  afterward  James  I.  of  England  was  the  son 
of  the  unfortunate  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  Henry 
Stuart,  Lord  Darnley.  He  began  his  reign  in  Scotland  in 
1577  and  in  England  in  1603.  He  had  been  educated  by 
tutors,  Presbyterian  ministers,  who  endeavored  to  train 
him  for  the  office  of  a  king,  and  to  instruct  him  in  rela- 
tion to  the  prominent  question  of  the  time — that  of  re- 
ligious affairs.  These  tutors,  excellent  men  and  scholars, 
do  not  seem  to  have  been  very  successful;  he  appears  to 
have  had  a  fine  memory  for  ivords  alone.  Thus  he  re- 
membered the  precise  words  or  terms  in  which  his  in- 
structions were  given,  but  was  deficient  in  the  power  to 
assimilate  or  make  as  his  own  mental  furniture  the 
ideas  they  conveyed.  Dr.  George  Buchanan,  his  prin- 
cipal instructor,  when  charged  with  having  made  him  a 
mere  pedant,  declared  "it  was  the  best  he  could  make  of 
him."  When  freed  from  his  tutors  and  made  king,  he 
took  up  the  role  of  an  incessant  talker  on  all  occasions; 
but  of  mere  verbiage,  and  that  uttered  indistinctly.  His 
tutors  had  labored  to  repress  his  unbounded  conceit,  re- 
buking him  sternly  rather  than  flattering  his  vanity,  but 
now  he  was  unrestrained. 

He  was  a  most  devout  believer  in  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  and  appeared  to  have  a  notion  that  as  a  king  he 
himself  could  never  make  a  mistake.  He  thought  a  king 
had  a  divine  right  to  make  or  unmake  laws  at  his  own 
pleasure,  and  was  bound  by  no  obligation  in  such  mat- 
ters— it  would  seem  in  his  case  not  even  to  keep  his  own 
word.  When  in  Scotland  at  one  time  he  professed  to 
have  a  profound  belief  in  the  Presbyterian  mode  of  church 
government  and  form  of  worship,  and  even  went  so  far  as 
to  ridicule  the  mode  of  worship  of  the  Church  of  England, 
which  as  an  imitation  of  that  of  Rome  he  characterized  as 
"an  evil  said  mass." 

James  and  the  General  Assembly. — James  had  difficulty 


40  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

with  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  of  Scotland, 
which  was  established  December  20,  1560,  seventeen 
years  before  he  became  king.  Episcopacy,  at  the  time, 
was  the  state  religion,  but  under  the  influence  of  John 
Knox  the  ration  superseded  it  by  Presbyterianism,  In 
1578  the  revised  or  Second  Book  of  Discipline  became  the 
authorized  standard  or  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland.  Immediately  after  James  began  to  lay  plans 
to  reinstate  Episcopacy.  During  this  struggle  numerous 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  prominent  laymen  were  driven 
into  exile,  and  as  usual  the  greater  part  went  to  Geneva. 
Finally  in  1584  James  and  his  nobles  arbitrarily  restored 
Episcopacy,  and  a  servile  parliament  sanctioned  the  ille- 
gal act  of  placing  the  government  of  the  church  in  the 
hands  of  the  king.  The  following  year  the  exiles  returned 
and  were  more  determined  than  ever  to  maintain  their 
civil  and  religious  rights,  and  the  whole  nation  was  soon 
on  the  verge  of  rebellion.  James  was  compelled  to  yield 
to  a  compromise,  by  which  a  modified  Episcopacy  was  in- 
troduced (1586),  by  which  bishops  were  "to  be  held  re- 
sponsible to  the  General  Assembly,  and  to  act  according  to 
the  advice  of  the  synods  and  presbyteries" — the  ap- 
pointees of  James  were  bishops  only  in  name.  Thus  the 
project  failed  in  an  inglorious  manner. 

The  Influence  of  the  Bishops. — As  soon  as  James  be- 
came King  of  England  he  fell  under  the  influence  of  the 
bishops,  who  had  carried  religious  matters  with  a  high 
hand  in  Elizabeth's  reign.  They  immediately  detected 
his  weak  points,  and  flattered  him  in  the  most  fulsome 
manner.  He  abominated  the  freedom  of  thought  and 
speech  and  zeal  for  religious  liberty  that  characterized 
the  leaders  in  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church.  He  was 
not  learned  and  wise,  but  shrewd  as  that  class  of  mind — 
a  sort  of  semi-lunatic — usually  is.  He  saw  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  the  pri- 


THE     REIGNS     OF     ELIZABETH    AND     JAMES.  4 1 

vate  members  had  a  voice  through  their  best  men,  the 
elders,  who  were  chosen  as  their  representatives,  was 
not  consistent  with  his  divine  right  as  head  of  the  church 
and  King"  of  England.  As  an  indication  of  his  policy  he 
announced  his  famous  axiom :  "No  Bishop,  no  King," 
by  which  he  meant  that  the  bishops  would  sustain  him 
in  his  plans  to  suppress  religious  freedom.  On  that  prin- 
ciple or  basis  he  henceforth  acted  as  king  and  head  of 
the  established  church. 

Hopes  Disappointed. — When  James  was  about  to  be- 
come King  of  England  the  English  Puritans  expected 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  he  being  a  professed  Pres- 
byterian, they  would  be  relieved  of  the  annoyances  to 
which  they  had  been  subjected  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 
They  were,  however,  doomed  to  be  sorely  disappointed. 
The  king  put  himself  under  influences  that  were  hostile 
to  true  religious  liberty.  As  James  claimed  the  divine 
right  for  kings,  so  his  leading  bishop,  Bancroft,  claimed 
the  divine  right  for  prelacy.  The  latter  charged  the 
Presbyterians  of  Scotland  with  following  the  doctrines 
taught  at  Geneva,  and  at  the  same  time  he  denounced  the 
English  Puritans  as  being  influenced  by  the  Scotch  Pres- 
byterians. We  have  just  seen  that  the  attempts  of  James 
and  his  bishops  to  establish  Episcopacy  in  Scotland  had 
failed,  and  in  that  controversy  Presbyterianism  had  tri- 
umphed. This  was  eleven  years  before  James  became 
King  of  England.  He  was  deeply  mortified  and  greedy 
for  revenge  because  of  this,  his  defeat. 

Notwithstanding  these  incidents,  in  order  to  avert  evil, 
the  English  Puritans  presented  to  James,  when  on  his 
way  from  Scotland  to  ascend  the  throne  of  England,  a  pe- 
tition expressing  loyalty  and  asking  for  relief.  This  peti- 
tion was  scarcely  noticed,  though  it  was  signed  by  nearly 
one  thousand  names  of  ministers  and  prominent  gentle- 
men. The  following  year  (1604)  a  conference  was  sum- 
5 


42  A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

moned  and  held  at  Hampton  Court.  The  debate  was  be- 
tween the  bishops  and  the  Puritans.  James  himself  pre- 
siding. Dr.  Reynolds,  professor  in  Cambridge,  spoke  in 
behalf  of  the  Puritans,  and  Bishop  Bancroft  on  that  of  the 
prelates.  The  king  kept  joining  in  with  his  usual  volu- 
bility. The  Puritans  were  dismissed  contemptuously  and 
found  their  interests  in  a  worse  condition  than  they  were 
even  under  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

Soon  afterward  the  leading  Scotch  Presbyterian  min- 
isters were  invited  to  London  to  hold  a  similar  confer- 
ence. They  too  were  insulted  and,  in  modern  phrase, 
bulldozed  by  the  king  and  his  bishops.  James  went  even 
so  far  as  to  treacherously  imprison  some  of  the  men  whom 
he  had  invited  to  a  friendly  conference.  He  seemed  to 
delight  in  every  opportunity  to  show  his  ill-feeling  to- 
ward his  own  countrymen,  especially  those  who  were  in 
favor  of  free  discussio.i  and  religious  liberty.  Numbers 
of  the  Scottish  Presbyterian  ministers  as  well  as  of  the 
English  Puritans  fled  the  country. 

Migrations  to  Ireland. — Great  numbers  of  the  perse- 
cuted ministers  and  their  people  migrated  from  England 
and  also  from  Scotland  to  Ireland,  where  they  were  pro- 
tected by  the  evangelical  bishops  of  that  island.  These 
immigrants  aided  in  strengthening  the  Irish  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  Scotch  settled  principally  in  Ulster  and  the 
English  in  Dublin  and  vicinity.  Great  numbers  of  the 
descendants  of  these  Presbyterians  afterward  migrated  to 
the  American  colonies. 

James  in  1584  attempted,  as  we  have  seen,  to  supersede 
Presbyterianism  in  Scotland  by  establishing  Episcopacy 
but  failed,  and  again  in  1592,  but  without  success,  as  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  then  put  on  a  national  basis 
but  liable  to  be  disturbed  at  any  time  by  the  kings  of  Eng- 
land under  the  influence  of  the  bishops.  Thus  his  son, 
Charles  I.,  about  fifty  years  afterward   (1640)   made  a 


THE    REIGNS    OF    ELIZABETH    AND    JAMES.  43 

similar  attempt  with  like  success.  This  uncertain  state  of 
affairs  in  Scotland  remained  for  about  sixty  years  longer, 
when  in  1707  by  treaty  Scotland  and  England  formed  a 
union,  and  the  Presbyterian  became  the  State  Church  of 
Scotland  and  the  Episcopal  that  of  England. 

The  Culdee  Church. — It  is  here  not  out  of  place  in  this 
history  to  compare  the  claims  to  antiquity  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland  as  such  with  those  of  the  Church  of  England. 
The  little  island  of  lona — containing  only  about  four 
square  miles  of  territory — lies  off  Mull  on  the  west  coast  of 
Scotland.  Though  so  insignificant  in  size,  it  ought  to  have 
a  peculiar  interest  for  American  Presbyterians,  because 
through  the  Church  of  Scotland  they  can  trace  their  line 
of  ecclesiastical  ancestry  back  to  the  "ancient  Church  of 
the  Culdees,"  which  was  founded  on  this  island  very 
near  Apostolic  times.  This  church  was  Apostolic  in  doc- 
trine, presbyterial  in  polity,  while  it  repudiated  the  celi- 
bacy of  the  clergy.  It  maintained  some  of  the  usages  of 
the  Greek  or  Oriental  church  and  "coequality,"  that  is, 
the  parity  of  the  ministry,  and  was  governed  by  presby- 
ters. Numerous  historical  arguments  are  adduced  to 
prove  that  the  Culdee  Church  was  the  outgrowth  of  the 
labors  of  exiles  driven  by  persecution  from  the  Church 
of  Galatia  in  Asia  Minor,  to  which  the  Apostle  Paul  ad- 
dressed an  epistle.  The  Galatians  were  of  Celtic  origin, 
as  were  the  Scots.  Tertullian,  who  lived  in  the  second 
century  A.  D.,  asserts  that  "Those  parts  of  Britain  that 
were  inaccessible  to  the  Romans"  {i.  e.,  Scotland)  "had 
become  subject  to  Christ."  In  those  early  times  the  Phoe- 
nicians came  to  Cornwall  in  Wales  to  trade  for  tin.  Why 
could  not  the  persecuted  Christians  of  Galatia  come  with 
them  to  the  Scottish  Isles  and  bring  the  gospel  to  their 
kindred,  the  Celts  of  Scotland,  of  Wales  and  of  Ireland? 

The  greatest  interest,  however,  centers  in  the  college 
established  on  lona  by  that  sainted  man,  Columba,  in 


44  A     HISTORY    OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

A.  D.  564,  which  under  his  successors  was  for  centuries 
a  training  school  or  theological  seminary  for  Christian 
missionaries  to  the  heathen  round  about.  It  was  not  a 
monastery.  Columba  was  a  Celt  and  a  native  of  Ireland, 
of  royal  lineage,  that  of  the  Kings  of  Ulster.  He  and 
his  assistants,  twelve  in  number,  were  imbued  with  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  as  was  the  Culdee  Church.  "Laborious 
researches  of  German  scholars  show  that  this  Scottish 
church  did  more  to  carry  a  pure  gospel  to  all  the  parts  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany  and  Switzerland  during 
the  sixth,  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  than  all  Christen- 
dom besides,  and  with  this  gospel  to  diffuse  letters  and 
science,  industry  and  civilization."  This  was  accom- 
plished by  sending  forth  from  lona  century  after  century 
Christian  men  well  trained  for  the  work.  These  mission- 
aries were  called  Culdees — a  name  whose  origin  is  un- 
known. 

In  A.  D.  607  Augustine,  a  monk,  came  from  Rome  to 
convert  the  Saxons,  who  had  succeeded  the  Romans  in 
the  control  of  England.  Long  afterward  Pope  Gregory 
the  Great  made  a  similar  but  more  successful  attempt. 
These  Romanists  resorted  to  their  usual  tactics,  and  from 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  century  onward,  for  four  hun- 
dred years,  popery  labored  to  crush  out  the  Scottish  or 
Culdee  Church,  but  never  fully  succeeded  because  wit- 
nesses for  the  truth  never  failed  in  that  church.  When 
the  Reformation  under  Luther  came  in  15 17  the  faithful 
descendants  of  the  "ancient  Culdee  Church"  were  pre- 
pared to  be  with  it  in  sympathy.  "The  Reformation 
Church  of  Scotland  was,  therefore,  simply  a  reappear- 
ance of  the  old  primeval  church."  Thus  we  see  how  the 
Scottish  Church  was  linked  with  the  Apostolic,  and  we  can 
trace,  also,  the  links  that  connected  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land with  that  of  Rome.    The  respective  influence  of  these 


THE     REIGNS    OF    ELIZABETH     AND    JAMES.  45 

two  origins  can  be  distinctly  recognized  to-day.  {The 
Culdee  Church,  by  Dr.  T.  V.  Moore.) 

The  Translations  of  the  Bible. — The  most  efficient  in- 
fluence exerted  over  the  Enghsh  mind  during  the  times 
of  these  religious  troubles  was  undoubtedly  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  into  their  own  tongue.  It  had  a  great 
effect  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  acceptance  of  the 
gospel  by  the  common  people.  There  were  made  several 
consecutive  versions  of  the  Bible,  all,  however,  based  on 
William  Tyndale's  translation,  who  in  consequence  of 
making  known  to  his  countrymen  the  word  of  God  in 
their  own  tongue,  suffered  martyrdom. 

One  version  was  made  (1539-41)  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII. ;  then  another  known  as  the  Genevan,  because  made 
in  that  city,  in  1560;  which  was  followed  by  a  version 
known  as  the  Bishop's  Bible,  1568,  and  1572,  in  Eliza- 
beth's reign,  and  finally  King  James's  Bible,  published  in 
161 1.  Thus  we  see  that  for  nearly  three-fourths  of  a 
century  the  preparation  of  these  various  versions  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  occupied  the  attention  of  the  learned  men 
among  the  Puritans  and  the  evangelical  prelatists.  This 
agitation  on  the  subject  attracted  attention  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  had  an  immense  in- 
fluence on  the  minds  of  the  common  people  in  leading 
them  to  read  and  study  the  word  of  God  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  among  any  other  people  of  Europe. 

Another  element  was  quietly  at  work  during  these 
troublous  times  of  discussion  and  persecution,  and  that 
was  the  devoted  attention  which  these  learned  men,  though 
differing  so  much  on  other  questions,  gave  to  the  Holy 
Scriptures  by  studying  them  in  the  originals — Hebrew 
and  Greek — and  from  time  to  time  preparing  revised  or 
better  translations. 


A  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF 

THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


VII. 

SABBATH    DESECRATION — SOLEMN    LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT. 

James  I.  issued  a  programme  of  amusements  for  the 
Sabbath  day,  known  as  the  'Book  of  Sports"  (1618). 
According  to  his  direction,  it  was  drawn  up  by  Bishop 
Moreton.  It  gave  permission  for  the  violation  of  the 
afternoon  of  the  Sabbath  day,  after  the  morning  ser- 
vices in  the  church ;  its  open  avowal  being  "  to  encour- 
age recreations  and  sports  on  the  Lord's  day."  Such 
mode  of  spending  the  Sabbath  was  customary  among 
the  Roman  Catholic  churches  on  the  Continent,  as  it  is 
for  the  most  part  to-day.  The  object  of  James  was 
evidently  to  annoy  the  Puritans,  as  he  well  knew  they 
kept  and  deemed  all  hours  of  the  day  equally  sacred ; 
perhaps  his  ulterior  motive  was  to  find  an  accusation 
against  them. 

Book  of  Sports. — The  "  Book  of  Sports  "  was  directed 
to  be  read  at  the  morning  service  in  all  the  parish 
churches  throughout  England,  but  the  evangelical 
Archbishop  Abbot  interfered  so  strenuously  that  it 
was  read  only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  The  order 
therefore  remained  virtually  obsolete  for  fifteen  years, 
till  1633,  when  Charles  I.,  at  the  instigation  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  revived  the  "  Book  of  Sports  "  and  ordered 
it  to  be  read  and  obeyed.  The  Romanizing  bishops 
were  in  favor  of  the  Sabbath  being  desecrated,  while 
the  evangelists  exerted  their  influence  in  favor  of  pre- 
serving its  sanctity.  The  Puritan  pastors,  rather  than 
violate  God's  law  by  reading  the  order,  gave  up  their 


SABBATH    DESECRATION.  47 

livings  in  great  numbers,  and  were  turned  upon  the 
world,  many  of  them  penniless. 

This  conscientious  and  strenuous  struggle  of  the 
Puritans — Presbyterians  and  Independents — to  pre- 
serve the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath  has  been  fraught 
with  untold  blessings  to  the  English-speaking  people 
the  world  over,  and  nowhere  greater  than  in  the  United 
States.  The  Puritans  may  appear  in  this  age  to  have 
carried  their  views  of  the  sanctity  of  the  day  to  an 
unnecessary  extent,  yet  that  sternness  of  purpose 
produced  a  blessing  which  they  never  could  have  be- 
queathed if  they  themselves  had  been  less  strict  in  its 
observance.  Their  intense  desire  to  preserve  the  Sab- 
bath in  its  integrity  led  them  toward  a  closer  adherence 
to  the  Old  Testament  than  to  the  New.  For  illustra- 
tion, they  were  accustomed  to  commence  the  Sabbath 
on  Saturday  evening  at  sunset.  This  custom  had  an 
unhappy  influence;  since  the  Sabbath  also  ended  at 
sunset,  its  evening  was  often  spent  in  a  manner  calcu- 
lated to  fritter  away  the  good  impressions  that  may 
have  been  received  in  the  house  of  worship  during  the 
day. 

Influence  of  the  Sabbath. — The  keeping  holy  this 
blessed  day  has  been  an  all-important  agent  in  preserv- 
ing the  knowledge  of  God  and  His  worship  fresh  among 
the  people.  How  different  would  have  been  the  re- 
ligious influences  abroad  on  the  Continent  of  Europe 
since  the  Reformation  if  the  reformers,  such  as  Luther, 
Melanchthon,  Zwingli,  and  even  John  Calvin,  and  their 
various  co-workers,  had  been  as  strenuous  in  the  de- 
fence of  the  sacredness  of  the  Lord's  day  as  was  John 
Knox  in  Scotland!  Under  such  circumstances,  there 
would  not  be  in  existence  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Continental  Sabbath,  whose  blighting  influence  is  felt  in 
the  United  States,  even  among  the  multitudes  of  those 
brought  up  in  Christian  families  and  who  travel  abroad, 


48  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

especially  on  the  Continent,  and  wTio  often  return  home 
imbued  with  a  spirit  indifferent  if  not  absolutely  antag- 
onistic to  the  proper  reverence  for  the  sacredness  of 
the  fourth  commandment.  The  observance  of  the 
Sabbath  held  the  Jewish  people  fast  to  Jehovah,  the 
living  God,  and  which  observance  appeals  the  more 
earnestly  to  Christians,  since  it  is  the  weekly  reminder 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  Blessed  Saviour. 

If  a  proper  Christian  observance  of  the  sacredness  of 
the  Sabbath  had  prevailed  in  France  from  the  times 
of  Calvin  and  of  Beza  forward,  could  that  nation  have 
degenerated  into  infidelity?  Could  the  terrible  scenes 
of  the  Revolution  of  1789  been  enacted  in  its  moral 
and  bloody  aspects  ?  If  the  Sabbath  had  been  observed 
by  the  reformers  on  the  Continent  as  strictly  as  it  was 
in  Scotland  or  even  in  England,  Romanism  could  not 
have  regained  so  much  of  the  influence  which  it  had 
lost  because  of  the  Reformation.  Neither  could  the 
priesthood  have  virtually  deprived  the  people  at  large 
of  the  Bible.  A  people  thoroughly  trained  to  reverence 
and  to  keep  that  sacred  day  could  never  have  been  se- 
duced again  into  Romanism,  nor  to  permit  saints'  days 
to  usurp  its  place  and  sacredness. 

The  Sabbath  on  the  Continent. — The  question  has 
often  been  raised,  Why  did  not  the  Reformers  on  the 
Continent  have  as  clear  and  distinct  views  of  the 
sacredness  of  the  Sabbath  as  had  Knox  and  his  co« 
workers  ?  The  answer  has  usually  been,  that  they  were 
so  accustomed  to  the  number  of  saints'  days  in  the 
Roman  calendar,  and  in  comparison  with  which  days, 
especially  those  devoted  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  Lord's 
day  was  deemed  less  sacred.  Again,  the  continental 
reformers  were  at  the  first  absorbed  in  lines  of  contro- 
versy that  did  not  especially  involve  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath.  These  reformers  failed  to  insist  on  the 
practice  of  spiritual  religion  with  the  earnestness  of  the 


Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  D.  D. 
(130,  140,  141,  168,  171.) 


SABBATH     DESECRATION.  49 

Puritans;  hence  the  proper  ohservance  of  the  Sabbath 
as  sacred  time  did  not  appear  to  them  so  essential. 
This  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  Lord's  day  has  been  a 
great  hindrance  to  the  advancement  of  spiritual  religion 
among  the  common  people  on  the  Continent. 

Saints'  days,  on  the  other  hand,  never  held  so  much 
sway  in  the  established  church  in  the  British  Isles  as 
they  did  on  the  Continent,  because  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple were  better  informed  in  respect  to  Bible  truths,  as 
we  have  already  noted  in  this  narrative.  The  conti- 
nental reformers,  therefore,  had  not  as  good  mate- 
rial to  act  upon  as  had  the  English  and  Scotch  divines. 
The  English  people,  because  of  their  knowledge  of  the 
Bible,  were  too  well  informed  as  to  the  sacredness  of 
the  fourth  commandment  to  permit  any  saints'  days 
to  supersede  its  importance.  That  commandment  re- 
quired the  holy  rest  of  one  day  in  seven,  as  well  as  the 
appropriate  duties  pertaining  to  six  days  of  labor.  On 
the  contrary,  the  saints'  days  in  Italy,  for  instance, 
sometimes  demanded  one  or  two  holidays  a  week,  thus 
diminishing  the  material  progress  of  the  people. 

The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant. — In  our  day  of  re- 
ligious liberty  and  civil  freedom  we  can  scarcely  appre- 
ciate the  intense  interest  that  the  English  people  them- 
selves had  in  their  church  affairs.  In  this  respect  they 
were  in  contrast  with  the  Protestant  nations  on  the 
Continent ;  the  latter  being  hitherto  under  the  heel  of 
the  ecclesiastical  despotism  of  the  Roman  hierarchy, 
which  crushed  the  earliest  aspirations  of  religious  lib- 
erty, and  therefore  they  could  not  attain  that  intelligent 
view  of  the  rights  of  conscience  which  the  English  and 
Scotch  people  had  been  acquiring  for  a  century  or  more. 

As  a  defensive  measure  and  to  secure  unity  among 
themselves  the  Scotch  entered  into  a  compact  known  as 
the  "  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  "  (1638).  This  has 
been  characterized  as  "  an  act  of  consecration    on  the 


50  A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

part  of  the  Scottish  people,  which  as  to  Its  essence  is 
one  of  the  noblest  transactions  of  modern  times."  It 
was  signed  by  the  people  with  remarkable  enthusiasm ; 
with  uplifted  hands  they  took  an  oath  to  maintain  its 
principles.  In  England  Charles  I.  under  oath  signed 
the  league  and  covenant  in  order  to  conciliate  the 
people ;  but  he  evidently  had  no  intention  to  keep  his 
oath. 

This  document  embodied  as  its  main  features :  "  The 
preservation  of  the  Reformed  religion  in  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  in  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  govern- 
ment according  to  the  word  of  God  and  the  example  of 
the  best  Reformed  churches.  .  .  ,  That  we  shall  en- 
deavor to  bring  the  churches  of  God  in  these  three 
kingdoms  to  the  nearest  conjunction  and  uniformity 
in  religion,  confession  of  faith,  form  of  church  govern- 
ment, directory  for  worship,  and  catechism." 

To  sustain  these  prominent  measures  the  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons  and  the  members  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  likewise  took  an  oath  with  up- 
lifted hands  in  the  presence  of  one  another  and  afterward 
they  individually  signed  the  document.  They  also  vowed 
"to  extirpate  popery,  prelacy,  superstition,  heresy  and 
schism,  profaneness  and  whatsoever  shall  be  found  to  be 
contrary  to  sound  doctrine  and  the  power  of  godliness" 

(1643). 

Why  Were  the  Prelates  Feared? — It  may  seem  strange 
that  those  who  had  been  the  victims  of  persecution  so 
often  and  in  so  many  forms — from  the  prison  and  the 
stake  to  being  deprived  of  livings  or  driven  into  exile — 
should  express  in  such  strong  terms  their  desire  to  "ex- 
tirpate popery  and  prelacy."  They  simply  acted  in  self- 
defense.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  both  these  ecclesias- 
tical parties — Roman  Catholic  priests  and  Romanizing 
prelates — when  connected  with  the  government,  persist- 


SABBATH    DESECRATION.  5  I 

ently  stimulated  the  latter  to  persecute  those  who  wished 
to  worship  God  in  their  own  way,  according  to  their  own 
conscience.  These  signers  of  the  League  and  Covenant 
intended  nothing  more  by  this  strong  language  than  by 
political  means — not  persecution — to  prevent  Romanism 
ruling  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  and  in  the  church,  and 
also  for  the  same  reason  free  themselves  from  the  under- 
hand rule  of  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England,  who 
were  or  might  be  in  the  same  relation  to  the  government. 
The  Presbyterians  and  the  Independents  recognized  the 
parity  of  the  ministry,  and  in  consequence  among  them  the 
tendency  was  to  treat  one  another  as  brethren  and  equal 
in  their  calling,  while  opinions  held  in  respect  to  non- 
essentials were  not  a  bar  to  fraternal  intercourse.  Neither 
was  it  on  account  of  church  government,  because  for  the 
sake  of  peace  and  conciliation  the  Scotch  and  also  the 
English  Presbyterians  had  consented  to  a  mixed  sort  of 
government  or  compromise  in  which  bishops  were  rec- 
ognized, but  in  Scotland  they  were  held  responsible  to 
the  General  Assembly,  while  in  England  the  bishops,  if 
responsible  to  any  authority,  they  were  to  the  king,  the 
assumed  head  of  the  church  since  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 

The  opposition  was  to  that  class  of  bishops  such  as 
Laud  and  several  others,  known  as  Romanizers,  who  la- 
bored secretly  and  often  treacherously  during  the  reigns 
of  the  Stuarts  to  bring  the  English  Church  and  people 
under  the  sway  of  the  Roman  hierarchy.  This  class  of 
bishops  persecuted  with  zeal  and  apparent  delight,  while 
the  evangelical  bishops,  such  as  Archbishop  Ussher  and 
Abbot,  and  many  others,  were  accustomed  to  protect 
those  who  for  conscience'  sake  could  not  conform,  and 
they  labored  also  in  behalf  of  the  freedom  of  conscience. 

For  threatening  the  "extirpation"  of  popery  and  prel- 
acy the  bishops  had  their  revenge — though  petty.  It 
seems  that  at  their  instigation  the  first  Parliament  under 


52  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Charles  11.  ordered  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant 
to  be  burned  by  the  common  hangman  in  the  streets  of 
London  (May  2.2,  1661). 

The  Effect  of  Trials  and  Persecutions. — In  this  con- 
cise narrative  we  have  seen  the  influence  that  during  so 
many  generations  trained  the  Presbyterian  leaders  and 
they  in  turn  the  people,  so  that  in  the  refining  process  in- 
duced by  trials  and  persecutions  Presbyterianism  became 
"a  religious  system  which  is  animate  with  the  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Christ  is  present  in  it  as  its  enthroned 
Sovereign  and  Saviour.  It  is  a  real  Christianity  which 
rejects  everything  that  is  not  a  product  of  the  Christianity 
of  Jesus  Christ.  *  *  *  This  principle  recognizes  the 
supremacy  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Scriptures,  but  de- 
clines to  imprison  His  divine  energy  in  its  external  form 
and  letter,  Presbyterianism  did  not  reject  the  authority 
of  the  papal  church  and  that  of  the  prelatical  church  in 
order  to  establish  the  authority  of  a  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  made  supreme  the  living  word  of  the  living  God;  it 
bound  itself  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  uses  the  word  of 
God  as  a  means  of  grace.  It  recognizes  the  enthroned 
Christ  as  the  source  of  Christianity  to  every  age.  The 
word  of  God  is  the  'scepter  of  His  Kingdom,'  and  divinely 
called  presbyters  are  his  officers,  commissioned  to  gov- 
ern the  church  with  his  authority  and  in  his  fear.  *  *  * 
It  has  the  true  Apostolic  succession  in  striving  after  the 
Apostolic  faith  in  its  purity,  integrity  and  fulness. 

"Presbyterianism  belongs  to  the  modern  age  of  the 
world,  to  the  British  type  of  Protestantism;  but  it  is  not 
a  departure  from  the  Christianity  of  the  ancient  and  me- 
dieval church.  It  makes  steady  progress  toward  the 
realization  of  the  ideal  of  Christianity  in  the  golden  age 
of  the  Messiah.     {Afn.  Pres.,  pp.  5,  8,  11,  condensed.) 

Presbyterian  Household  Training. — We  hope  this  con- 
cise sketch  of  the  training  of  the  members  of  the  Presby- 


SABBATH     DESECRATION.  5  3 

terian  Church — ministers  as  well  as  the  laity — in  the 
school  of  adversity  where  self-reliance  was  practically 
taught,  will  enable  the  reader  to  appreciate  more  fully  the 
character  of  the  first  Presbyterian  preachers  to  this  coun- 
try. The  systematic  instruction  both  in  religious  and  sec- 
ular affairs,  given  in  the  families  of  the  Puritans  or  Pres- 
byterians, had  great  influence  for  good.  In  proportion 
as  the  parents  were  intehigent  they  desired  a  still  better 
education  for  their  children  than  they  themselves  had  en- 
joyed in  their  youth.  Thus  this  God-implanted  principle 
in  the  hearts  of  parents  secured  for  each  succeeding  gen- 
eration of  the  family  a  better  education  than  that  of  the 
former.  This  influence  has  passed  on  and  is  felt  in  Pres- 
byterian families  more  to-day  than  ever  before.  The  pri- 
vate members  of  the  church  were  thus,  for  the  most  part, 
trained  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  while  after  its 
formulation,  as  an  aid  to  that  study,  was  used  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith.  This  was  a  concise  com- 
pendium of  the  doctrines  which  the  ministers  and  elders 
and  other  intelligent  laymen,  members  of  that  famous  as- 
sembly, believed  to  be  contained  in  the  word  of  God.  In 
addition  for  the  benefit  of  youth  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechism  were  prepared  and  made  as  familiar  as  house- 
hold words  to  the  Presbyterian  youth  of  both  sexes. 

Such  were  the  characteristics  of  the  first  Presbyterian' 
ministers  that  came  as  preachers  to  the  colonies,  out  of 
which  grew  the  United  States,  and  such  was  the  knowl- 
edge of  sacred  things  that  pervaded  the  Congregational 
and  Presbyterian  households  which  emigrated  thither 
from  the  three  kingdoms.  After  they  had  settled  in  this 
new  land  they  did  not  neglect  the  religious  instruction  of 
their  children,  but  brought  them  up  in  an  intelligent  fear 
of  the  Lord,  by  means  of  teaching  them  not  merely  to 
read  and  study  the  word  of  God,  but  likewise  to  commit 
to  memory,  and  that  understandingly,  the  catechisms  of 


54  A    HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

the  church.  The  sublime  doctrines  of  Christianity  were 
thus  stored  in  the  minds  of  their  children  to  be  brought 
forth  and  applied  as  occasion  required  when  manhood 
and  womanhood  were  attained. 


VIII. 

The   Westminster   Confession — Events   Connected 
Therewith. 

As  the  church  was  in  connection  with  the  government 
it  was  conceded  that  parliament  had  a  right  to  interfere 
in  its  affairs.  It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  those  days 
the  questions,  which  for  the  greater  part  absorbed  the 
attention  of  parliament,  were  those  pertaining  to  religious 
matters,  as  they  had  an  influence  upon  the  succession  to 
the  crown,  while  the  intermeddling  with  the  rights  of 
conscience  had  been  for  several  generations  a  prolific 
source  of  annoyance  and  evil  to  the  people  at  large.  The 
members  of  the  parliaments  of  that  period,  as  a  general 
rule,  were  well  acquainted  with  these  religious  questions, 
and  often  because  of  such  qualifications  were  they  chosen. 

As  already  noted,  there  were  in  existence  at  this  time, 
besides  minor  ones,  no  less  than  three  prominent  Confes- 
sions— that  of  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  (1560) ;  the 
XXXIX.  Articles  of  the  English  Church  (1563), and  that 
of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  (1615).  The  English 
Presbyterians,  as  yet,  had  not  framed  a  Confession.  A 
sentiment  pervaded  the  minds  of  the  Reformed  ministers 
of  the  British  Isles  and  of  the  intelligent  laymen  of  all 
religious  parties — except  the  Romanizing  bishops — that 
there  should  be  formulated  a  Confession  of  Faith  for  the 
whole  kingdom. 

The  Ordinance  of  Parliament. — Meanwhile,  the  pre- 
latical  party,  encouraged  by  the  King,  Charles  I.,  was  con- 
tinually making  encroachments  upon  the  religious  rights 


56  A     HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

of  the  Puritans — the  Presbyterians  and  Independents.  To 
remedy  these  evils  and  also  to  unite  all  the  people  in  favor 
of  a  single  Confession  of  Faith,  the  latter  desired  to  have 
summoned  "an  assembly  of  divines  and  learned  laymen 
under  the  protection  of  parliament,  who  should  be  free 
in  its  action  from  the  domination  of  the  prelates."  At 
this  time  parliament  was  antagonistic  to  the  king  because 
of  his  Romanizing  policy  in  respect  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. A  "Grand  Remonstrance,"  drawn  up  and  numer- 
ously signed,  was  presented  to  the  king  (1641)  in  which 
it  was  proposed  for  him  to  summon  such  an  assembly. 
Charles  refused  to  sanction  a  call  for  such  purpose,  and 
afterward  (July  i,  1643)  issued  a  proclamation  forbid- 
ding the  meeting  of  the  assembly,  which  in  spite  of  his  op- 
position had  in  the  meantime  been  summoned  by  parlia- 
ment. Parliament  of  its  own  motion  issued  an  ordi- 
nance (1643)  fo^  3,  certain  number  of  learned  and  godly 
divines  to  be  selected  from  the  religious  parties  of  Eng- 
land, who  should  take  in  hand  to  formulate  such  a  creed 
or  confession.  The  commissioners  to  which  assembly 
"were  to  confer  and  treat  among  themselves  of  matters 
concerning  the  liturgy,  discipline  and  government  of  the 
Church  of  England  *  *  *  clearing  the  doctrine  of 
the  same  from  all  false  aspersions  and  misconstructions 
*  *  *  touching  the  matters  aforesaid  as  shall  be  most 
agreeable  to  the  word  of  God."  The  assembly  was  en- 
joined to  report  progress  regularly  to  parliament. 

The  Westminster  Assembly. — In  accordance  with  this 
ordinance  the  famous  assembly  met  at  Westminster  in 
King  Henry  VII.  chapel,  July  i,  1643.  During  a  labor 
continuing  for  about  three  years  they  formulated  the  well- 
known  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith.  This  included 
the  Catechisms,  larger  and  shorter,  a  selection  of  Scrip- 
ture proof-texts,  and  in  addition  a  Directory  of  Public 
Worship.      Its  special  merits  have  made  this  confession 


THE    WESTMINSTER    CONFESSION.  57 

in  all  respects  the  most  complete  work  of  the  kind  ever 
produced.  That  it  has  been  thus  recognized  we  infer  from 
the  length  of  time,  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
that  it  has  been  an  authority  in  the  Calvinistic  churches 
of  the  English  Protestant  world  and  the  vast  numbers  of 
others  who  have  also  accepted  its  interpretation  of  the 
word  of  God.  No  human  work  is  perfect,  but  this  in  its 
sphere  would  seem  as  nearly  perfect  as  men  at  that  time 
could  make  it. 

The  Directory  of  Public  Worship. — The  Directory  of 
Public  Worship  engaged  the  attention  of  the  assembly 
nearly  six  months.  When  finished  it  was  sent  to  parlia- 
ment; that  body  having  approved  the  work,  it  was  or- 
dered to  be  observed  in  the  churches  (1645).  This  di- 
rectory in  its  spirit  was  consistent  with  the  principle  of 
toleration  in  non-essentials  as  held  by  the  Presbyterian 
portion  of  the  Puritans,  and  therefore  it  left  as  optional 
with  the  churches  and  ministers  whether  in  public  wor- 
ship they  should  use  written  or  unwritten  prayers. 
Neither  did  the  framers  intend  to  impose  that  special  form 
of  worship  upon  the  churches. 

The  Members  of  the  Assembly. — The  Westminster  As- 
sembly was  composed  of  121  divines,  whom  the 'parlia- 
ment had  carefully  selected  as  representatives  from  all 
the  counties  of  England  and  Wales,  and  also  from  the 
Universities  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford.  There  were  only 
ten  or  twelve  Independents  or  Congregationalists  in  the 
assembly.  This  fact  may  have  been  owing  to  their  sys- 
tem of  church  government,  in  which  each  church  was 
accustomed  to  frame  or  not  its  individual  confession. 
Irish  Presbyterians  were  also  represented,  and  so  were 
the  evangelical  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  and  in 
Ireland.  Ten  nobles  represented  the  House  of  Lords  and 
twenty  of  their  ablest  men  from  the  House  of  Commons 
— thus  recognizing  the  rights  of  Christian  laymen  to  take 
6 


58  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

part  in  the  affairs  of  the  church.  The  great  majority, 
however,  were  Presbyterians,  the  number  of  which  was 
increased  by  commissioners  from  the  Scotch  Church,  who 
were  invited  to  join  in  formulating  a  creed  or  Confession 
of  Faith  for  the  whole  kingdom. 

The  commissioners  from  the  Scotch  Church  reported 
from  time  to  time  to  their  General  Assembly  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  of  the  divines  at  Westminster,  and  finally  laid 
before  the  former  the  completed  Confession  of  Faith  and 
the  catechisms,  including  also  the  Directory  for  Worship. 
After  discussion  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Scotch 
Church,  instead  of  its  own,  substituted  in  all  its  parts  the 
Confession  of  Faith  formulated  by  the  Westminster  di- 
vines (1647).  Says  Hetherington  {Hist,  of  the  Scotch 
Church,  p.  ipj)  :  "This,  therefore,  may  be  regarded  as 
the  assembly  by  which  was  completed  the  second  Reform- 
ation of  the  Scottish  Church,  and  the  full  arrangement  of 
its  confession  and  form  of  worship  and  discipline." 

The  Character  of  the  Assembly  and  Its  Work. — This 
was  a  remarkable  company  of  divines :  "Such  a  band  of 
preaching  and  praying  ministers  as  gathered  in  the  West- 
minster Assembly  the  world  had  never  seen  before.  *  *  * 
The  main  portion  of  the  members  was  selected,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  from  the  great  body  of  the  ordained 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  England,  who  had  long  been 
Puritans  and  Presbyterians.  Never  since  has  England 
been  in  the  position  to  secure  such  another  full  represen- 
tation of  her  Protestantism  as  the  Westminster  Assembly 
afforded.  The  three  great  parties  which  now  divide  Brit- 
ish Protestantism  were  adequately  represented  among  the 
learned  divines  named  in  the  ordinance."  {Am.  Pres., 
p.  62.)  "The  Westminster  standards  are,  historically 
speaking,  the  final  crystallization  of  the  elements  of  evan- 
gelical religion  after  the  conflicts  of  sixteen  hundred 
years;  scientifically  speaking,  they  are  the  richest  and 


THE    WESTMINSTER     CONFESSION.  59 

most  precise  and  best  guarded  statement  ever  penned  of 
all  that  enters  into  evangelical  religion,  and  of  all  that 
must  be  safely  guarded  if  evangelical  religion  is  to  per- 
sist in  the  world;  and,  religiously  speaking,  they  are  a 
notable  monument  of  spiritual  religion."  {Prof.  Benj. 
B.  Wariield.) 

Civil  Commotions. — While  the  Westminster  Assembly 
was  in  session  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  were  dis- 
turbed by  civil  commotions,  which  resulted  in  battles  be- 
tween the  armies  of  the  opposing  parties.  These  con- 
flicts, occurring  principally  in  England,  were  owing  to  the 
opposition  of  the  English  people  to  the  tyrannical  acts 
of  Charles  I.  He  quarreled  with  three  successive  parlia- 
ments from  1625  to  1629;  by  royal  prerogative  he  in  an 
arbitrary  manner  dissolved  them  in  turn,  because  they 
insisted  on  redressing  the  existing  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical wrongs.  For  eleven  years  he  ruled  in  church  and 
state  after  the  manner  of  an  oriental  despot;  that  is,  with- 
out a  parliament  or  reference  to  the  will  of  the  people. 
The  members  of  these  parliaments  for  the  most  part  were 
presbyterian  in  their  religious  views,  and  were  identi- 
fied with  the  policy  of  constitutional  government  and  civil 
liberty.  In  1640  a  parliament  was  elected,  but  it  refused 
to  be  dissolved  by  the  mandate  of  the  king  or  to  adjourn ; 
hence  it  is  known  as  the  Long  Parliament,  as  it  lasted  for 
about  twelve  years.  One  of  its  first  acts  was  to  pass  a 
resolution  to  the  effect  that  it  should  not  be  dissolved 
except  with  its  own  consent.  This  parliament  boldly  ad- 
vocated the  civil  and  religious  rights  of  the  people,  the 
latter  meanwhile  becoming  more  and  more  in  sympathy 
with  its  proceedings.  They  were  in  process  of  training 
for  ere  long  making  an  end  of  royal  tyranny  and  prelacy, 
which  were  linked  together  by  the  king  and  hi-^  Arch- 
bishop Laud. 

The  Question  of  Apostolic  Succession. — Two  subjects 


6o  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

during  this  period  agitated  the  minds  of  the  religious  par- 
ties in  England — that  of  the  Apostolic  succession  or  the 
"regular  and  uninterrupted  transmission  of  ministerial 
authority  from  the  Apostles,"  and  the  Divine  authority  for 
a  form  of  church  government. 

The  Presbyterians  claim  that  "the  presbyters  are  the 
genuine  bishops  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the  true 
Apostolic  succession  is  in  the  presbyters,  who  have  been 
ordained  by  the  Apostles  and  their  successors  from  the 
foundations  of  the  Christian  Church  until  the  present 
time."  This  mode  of  Apostolic  succession  would  of  itself 
seem  more  rational  than  to  limit  it  to  a  single  line  of  in- 
dividual bishops.  The  latter  would  be  more  liable  to  be 
broken  by  some  one  dropping  out  than  in  the  lines  of 
numerous  individuals  as  ministers  or  presbyters.  The 
instances  recorded  in  the  primitive  church  wherein  per- 
sons were  ordained  or  set  apart  to  the  ministry,  the  cere- 
mony used  was  that  of  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
presbytery  collectively  and  not  by  a  single  bishop,  elder 
or  presbyter.  (See  I.  Tim.  iv,  and  Acts  vi.  6;  also 
xiii.  3.) 

These  officers  of  the  primitive  church  may  be  included 
in  three  classes,  namely:  pastors  or  teachers,  elders  and 
deacons.  The  pastors  and  teachers  engage  in  the  preach- 
ing of  the  word  and  in  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments ;  the  pastors  and  the  ruling  elders,  when  combined, 
have  judicial  power;  while  the  care  of  the  poor  belongs  to 
the  deacons.  (Acts  Chap,  vi.)  Presbyterianism  claims 
that  there  is  no  higher  order  of  church  officer  found  in  the 
New  Testament  than  that  of  teacher  or  presbyter,  as  the 
Greek  word  translated  bishop,  in  every  instance,  is  used 
synonymously  with  presbyter  or  elder.  They  claim  thus 
to  follow  as  nearly  as  possible  the  method  of  government 
used  in  the  primitive  church,  and  also  that  "their  minis- 
try   is    descended    from    Christ    through    the    Apostate 


THE    WESTMINSTER    CONFESSION.  6 1 

Church  of  Rome,  but  not  from  the  Apostate  Church  of 
Rome."  This  is  on  the  principle  that  "the  power  of  God's 
ordinance  depends  not  on  the  person  that  does  execute  the 
same,  but  upon  a  higher  foundation  (authority),  the  insti- 
tution of  Christ."  "Ministerial  acts  are  not  vitiated  nor 
made  null,  though  they  pass  through  the  hands  of  bad 
men,  but  stand  good  to  all  intents  and  purposes  to  such  as 
receive  them  aright,  by  virtue  of  their  office  authorita- 
tively derived  from  the  first  institution.  *  *  *  Our 
ministry  is  derived  to  us  from  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
by  succession  of  a  ministry  continued  in  the  church.  We 
have  a  lineal  succession  from  Christ  and  his  Apostles ;  not 
only  a  lineal  succession,  but  that  which  is  more  and  with- 
out which  the  lineal  is  of  no  benefit,  we  have  a  doctrinal 
succession  also."  {Divine  Right  of  the  Gospel-Ministry, 
1654,  as  quoted  in  Anier.  Fres.,  pp.  2,  j.) 

Cromwell' s  Doings. — The  Presbyterians  were  in  favor 
of  a  constitutional  government,  through  which  they  hoped 
the  people  would  secure  all  their  rights,  civil  and  religious. 
The  Independents,  who  during  these  commotions  had  rap- 
idly increased  in  numbers,  were  extremely  radical  in  their 
views,  both  as  to  the  civil  government  and  the  prelacy. 
These  characteristics  at  once  attracted  multitudes  who  had 
been  previously  neutral  or  indifferent.  Oliver  Cromwell 
was  at  their  head.  In  1643  ^^  took  command  of  the  army ; 
his  marvelous  influence  inspired  his  soldiers  with  re- 
ligious enthusiasm,  though  he  did  not  neglect  to  make 
them  perfect  in  military  drill.  After  a  series  of  victo- 
ries in  the  course  of  four  years  Charles  fell  into  Crom- 
well's hands  (Nov.  30,  1648). 

The  first  of  Cromwell's  measures  when  he  assumed  au- 
thority was  to  have  expelled  from  the  House  of  Com- 
mons of  the  Long  Parliament  the  140  Presbyterian  mem- 
bers (Dec.  6,  1648)  ;  the  remaining  members,  being  Inde- 
pendents, began  to  legislate  for  themselves.     This  rem- 


62  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

nant  is  known  in  history  as  the  "Rump  Parliament." 
They  at  once  aboHshed  the  House  of  Lords,  then  resolved 
to  try  Charles  for  his  life  (Jan.  i,  1649),  ^^'^  fo^"  that  pur- 
pose named  150  commissioners.  On  the  20th  of  the  same 
month  the  king  was  brought  before  this  extemporized 
court.  Charles  refused  to  plead,  on  the  ground  that  the 
court  was  illegally  constituted;  nevertheless  he  was 
promptly  condemned,  and  on  the  30th  of  the  same  month 
beheaded.  Against  these  high-handed  and  illegal  pro- 
ceedings the  Presbyterians  protested,  not  that  they  were 
or  could  be  in  sympathy  with  Charles  and  Archbishop 
Laud  in  their  tyrannies  and  intolerance,  but  that  it  was 
without  sanction  of  law,  while  to  go  to  such  extremes  they 
deemed  unnecessary  under  the  circumstances  and  most 
unjustifiable. 

The  New  Parliament. — When  the  Restoration  of 
Charles  IL  took  place,  February,  1660,  the  Presbyterian 
members  of  the  Long  Parliament,  who  had  been  illegally 
expelled  by  Cromwell,  reassembled  as  a  parliament,  but 
at  once  resolved  on  a  dissolution  and  on  an  election  of  a 
new  House  of  Commons,  thus  purposely  affording  an  op- 
portunity for  the  people  to  express  their  opinions  by  their 
votes.  The  new  House  met  on  April  25,  1660,  and  took 
the  oath  of  the  "Solemn  League  and  Covenant."  {See 
Chap.  VII.) 

Charles  H.,  however,  adopted  as  his  motto  his  grand- 
father James's  axiom,  "No  bishop,  no  king,"  and  the 
best  that  could  be  done  was  to  institute  a  compromise, 
by  moderate  Presbyterians  and  moderate  Episcopalians, 
combined  in  a  mixed  form  of  church  government. 

The  Divine  Right  for  Church  Government. — The  as- 
sumption that  any  form  of  church  government  can  claim 
a  divine  right  for  the  same  has  plainly  no  direct  sanction 
in  the  Scriptures,  but  is  only  an  inference  from  the  men- 
tion, incidentally,  of  cases  involving  church  government 


THE    WESTMINSTER     CONFESSION.  6;^ 

or  regulation.  Efforts  were  made  by  the  different  relig- 
ious parties  or  denominations  in  those  troublous  times  to 
prove  that  each  of  their  respective  forms  of  church  gov- 
ernment was  jure  divino,  or  of  divine  authority.  This 
being  the  case,  it  was  natural  for  each  to  desire  to  be  in 
connection  with  the  state,  and  no  doubt  these  good  men 
persuaded  themselves  that  their  own  church  under  such 
circumstances  would  be  in  a  sphere  of  greater  usefulness. 

In  accordance  with  the  theory  of  the  times,  the  Long 
Parliament  took  measures  that  were  essential  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  church  and  for  its  union  with  the  state.  In 
those  days,  compared  with  the  present,  the  statesmen  and 
divines  were  limited  in  their  views  of  religious  liberty 
and  they  were  unwilling  to  favor  all  denominations  alike 
by  supporting  their  respective  ministers  from  the  public 
funds.  On  the  contrary,  the  policy  was  to  select  one  de- 
nomination and  make  it  the  only  recipient  of  state  favor 
or  support,  and  in  addition,  what  was  exceedingly  unjust, 
the  unfavored  ones  had  not  only  to  support  their  own  min- 
isters but  share  in  the  expense  of  the  State  Church  by  pay- 
ing tithes  for  its  benefit.  Each  denomination  wished  to 
prove  that  its  form  of  government  was  of  divine  author- 
ity, and  in  such  case  it  had  an  undoubted  claim  to  be 
placed  in  union  with  the  state.  How  much  time  was  wasted 
in  the  discussion  of  these  questions !  On  them  the  Scrip- 
tures are  silent,  except  only  in  incidentally  mentioning  the 
manner  in  which  the  affairs  of  the  primitive  church  were 
administered. 

Plan  for  a  State  Church. — The  politicians  of  the  Long 
Parliament  were  in  favor  of  making  the  Presbyterian  de- 
nomination the  State  Church,  as  had  already  been  done 
in  Scotland.  In  accordance  with  this  partiality  it  passed 
a  bill  (Jan.  29,  1648)  :  "For  the  speedy  dividing  and  set- 
tling the  several  counties  of  this  kingdom  into  distinct 
presbyteries  and  congregational  elderships."    The  Parlia- 


04  A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ment,  after  conferring  with  the  assembly  of  divines  at 
Westminster,  issued  the  following  order:  "That  there 
be  forthwith  a  choice  made  of  elders  throughout  the  king- 
dom of  England  and  Wales."  In  these  regulations  the 
ratio  was  instituted  of  two  elders  to  one  minister  in  the 
meetings  of  the  presbyteries.  In  this  early  day  we  see 
how  careful  the  Presbyterians  were  to  secure  the  rights 
of  the  people  or  church  members.  This  mode  of  govern- 
ment was  in  marked  contrast  with  that  of  the  Romish 
Church,  wherein  the  private  members  had  no  voice,  and 
the  same  principle  was  prominent  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land under  James  and  the  two  Charles,  wherein  the  bish- 
ops ruled  with  a  high  hand  and  repudiated  the  idea  that 
the  private  members  should  have  a  voice  in  church  af- 
fairs. 

In  accordance  with  the  model  proposed  by  the  West- 
minster Confession,  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment was  to  be  adapted  to  England,  Wales  and  Ire- 
land. This  organization  of  the  Church  of  England  on  a 
Presbyterian  basis  similar  to  that  of  Scotland  was  pre- 
vented by  the  interference  of  Cromwell  and  the  Inde- 
pendents, but  owing  to  the  disintegrating  principle  of  the 
latter's  mode  of  churcH  government  this  union  with  the 
State  had  but  little  influence,  if  any  at  all.  That  rule  was 
continued  during  the  Commonwealth,  but  the  Episcopal 
was  restored  as  the  State  Church  under  Charles  11.  in 
1660,  after  an  interval  of  about  twelve  years. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  theory  of  the  Apostolic 
succession  henceforth  became  an  element  in  the  political 
world,  as  with  it  was  associated  the  jus  divinum  author- 
ity of  the  king.  The  Romanizing  bishops  even  gave  their 
sanction  to  this  theory  in  order  to  strengthen  their  own 
influence  both  in  the  Church  and  State.  Says  Prof. 
Fisher:  "The  theory  that  there  can  be  no  church  with- 
out prelatical  bishops  was  never  maintained  by  Episco- 


THE    WESTMINSTER    CONFESSION,  65 

palians  in  England  until  the  days  when  a  school  of  theo- 
logians, who  were  at  the  same  time  supporters  of  the 
tyranny  of  the  Stuarts,  brought  it  forward  and  used  it 
in  the  controversy  with  the  Puritans."  {The  Validity  of 
Non-Prelatical  Ordination,  p.  i8.) 


IX. 


Emigrations  to  the  Colonies — Congregational  and 
Presbyterian. 

We  have  concisely  traced  the  influences  that  led  to  the 
outgrowth  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  British  Isles.  We 
have  noted  its  underlying  principles,  such  as  the  parity  of 
the  ministry;  a  church  government  by  presbyters;  if  not 
in  so  many  words,  practically  the  same  among  the  Re- 
formed churches  on  the  Continent  and  the  Bible  ac- 
cepted as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 
Their  form  of  church  government,  in  which  the  church 
members  had  a  part,  was  in  opposition  to  the  prelatical 
system,  the  outgrowth  of  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  Church 
of  Rome.  That  system,  however,  suited  the  kings  and 
queens  of  England,  who  impiously  assume  to  be  the  head 
of  the  church,  while  the  genuine  Reformers  held  that 
Christ,  alone,  was  the  head  of  His  Church,  as  he  himself 
declared  to  his  disciples  when  he  said  that  he  was  the 
Master. 

Puritans  in  Virginia. — We  learn  incidentally  from  his- 
tory that  among  the  English  emigrants  who  came  to  Vir- 
ginia (1607),  and  who  founded  the  first  English  perma- 
nent settlement  upon  the  soil  of  the  present  United  States, 
there  were  Puritan  ministers.  Some  of  these,  it  is  prob- 
able, were  Presbyterians  and  some  were  Independents, 
but  as  the  form  of  church  government  was  looked  upon 
as  non-essential  by  both  parties  among  the  Puritans,  we 
find  the  terms  expressive  of  either  form  very  seldom  used. 
We  learn,  however,  incidentally  that  these  ministers  were 


EMIGRATIONS    TO    THE    COLONIES.  67 

not  prelatists  and  did  not  conform  to  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  the  estabhshed  church.  One  of  them,  Alex- 
ander Whitaker,  whom  George  Bancroft  characterizes  as 
"the  self-denying  apostle  of  Virginia,"  after  describing 
in  a  letter  the  religious  services  on  the  Sabbath  day,  re- 
marks incidentally  (1614)  :  "Here  neither  surplice  nor 
subscription" — that  is  to  the  church  services — "is  spoken 
of." 

Some  thirty  years  after  this  declaration  was  made 
(1645)  it  was  "specially  ordered  that  no  minister  should 
preach  or  teach  publicly  or  privately  except  in  conformity 
to  the  Church  of  England;  non-conformists  were  ban- 
ished." The  reader  will  notice  that  when  this  order  was 
issued  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines  was  in  ses- 
sion, Charles  I.  was  on  the  throne,  and  the  civil  commo- 
tions had  already  commenced  which  brought  him  to 
the  block.  Nevertheless,  prelatical  influence  at  home 
urged  the  authorities  in  "Virginia  to  persecute  the  non- 
conformists. The  indirect  rule  of  the  bishops  in  that 
colony  was  exceedingly  intolerant  toward  the  non-con- 
formists or  dissenters,  and  in  consequence  of  these  con- 
tinued persecutions  there  occurred  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years  afterward  the  severest  struggle  for  religious  liberty 
in  American  history — which  will  be  noted  further  on,  p. 
159 — and  which  resulted  in  the  complete  overthrow  of  the 
interfering  prelatical  power  in  the  state.  About  this  time 
(1643)  the  Virginia  Puritans  invited  preachers  from  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  supply  the  religious 
wants  of  the  people,  but  when  they  came  they  were  forbid- 
den to  preach  by  the  colonial  authorities  and  were  also 
ordered  to  leave  the  country.  Sir  William  Berkeley  was 
appointed  Governor  in  1642,  and  he  held  the  office  for 
nearly  forty  years.  He  is  represented  as  a  courtier  and 
"very  malignant  toward  the  way  of  the  churches"  in  New 
England.     He  had  been  instructed  to  enforce  the  cere- 


68  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

monies  of  the  Church  of  England.  There  had  been  no 
rehgious  persecution  till  1642,  when  Berkeley  was  ap- 
pointed Governor,  and  to  him  belongs  the  odium  of  insti- 
tuting the  persecution  of  these  Christians,  who  would  not 
violate  their  conscience  by  conforming  in  their  worship 
to  the  prescribed  ceremonies  of  the  established  church. 

The  Policy  of  the  Virginia  Company. — The  sympathy 
of  the  original  Virginia  Company  was  with  the  Puritan 
ministers,  and  oftentimes  when  such  were  deprived  of 
their  livings  in  England  because  they  would  not  conform 
to  the  rules  laid  down  by  prelatical  authority,  the  com- 
pany would  aid  them  in  migrating  to  Virginia.  This 
action  roused  the  anger  of  James  and  he  arbitrarily  re- 
voked the  charter  of  the  company  (1624). While  the  char- 
ter was  in  existence  Virginia  was  under  Puritan  control ; 
not  indeed  that  form  of  Puritanism  which  became  dom- 
inant in  New  England  and  ruled  Great  Britain  under  the 
Lord  Protector,  but  the  Puritanism  of  the  English  Presby- 
terians, who  desired  to  reform  the  national  church."  {Am. 
Pres.,  p.  go.)  The  American  colonies  were  added  to  the 
bishopric  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
appoint  for  them  their  clergy. 

The  Puritans  had  sent  ministers  as  missionaries  to  the 
Bermuda  or  Somers  Islands  as  early  as  1612,  and  num- 
bers of  these  from  time  to  time  migrated  to  Virginia. 
Meantime  many  Puritan  ministers  and  also  Puritan  fam- 
ilies were  coming  as  settlers  to  the  same  colony.  Among 
the  ministers  was  Robert  Bolton,  who  preached  at  Eliz- 
abeth City  and  to  the  colonists  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
Chesapeake. 

The  Plymouth  Colony. — Thirteen  years  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  colony  in  Virginia  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
landed  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts  (Dec.  22,  1620).  Ow- 
ing to  the  continual  annoyances  instigated  by  the  English 
bishops  this  congregation  had  previously  sought  relief  by 


EMIGRATIONS     TO    THE    COLONIES.  69 

removing  in  a  body  from  England  to  Holland,  where  they 
could  enjoy  religious  liberty.  Their  pastor,  John  Rob- 
inson, went  with  them  as  their  guide.  He  was  remarka- 
ble for  his  toleration  and  Christian  charity,  and  with  his 
spirit  the  entire  congregation  appear  to  have  been  im- 
bued. After  a  sojourn  of  several  years  in  Holland  they 
resolved,  for  valid  reasons,  to  migrate  to  the  new  world, 
and  thither  the  larger  portion  went.  Their  beloved  pastor 
was  unable  to  accompany  them,  but  he  entrusted  the  man- 
agement of  the  enterprise  to  their  elder,  William  Brew- 
ster. Death  prevented  Robinson  joining  his  flock  in  their 
new  homes  at  Plymouth.  (Patton's  Four  Hundred  Years 
of  American  History,  I.,  pp.  93-103.) 

For  nearly  ten  years  the  congregation  was  without  a 
pastor.  For  eighteen  years  the  colony  was  a  pure  democ- 
racy ;  the  male  members  voting  on  every  question  pertain- 
ing to  the  secular  government,  while  in  respect  to  church 
matters  the  form  was  independent,  though  in  the  congre- 
gation were  many  Presbyterians,  among  whom  was  Elder 
Brewster. 

A  Presbyterian  Church  Organised. — The  founding  of 
a  Presbyterian  colony  on  Massachusetts  Bay  was  encour- 
aged by  "the  Presbyterian  leaders  in  the  South  of  England 
and  also  in  London."  The  Rev.  John  White  of  Dorches- 
ter was  a  controlling  mind  in  planning  the  enterprise.  So 
much  interest  did  Christian  men  take  in  the  project  that 
Arthur  Lake,  the  evangelical  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
declared  "he  would  go  himself  but  for  his  age."  It  was 
to  be  a  "colonization  on  a  higher  principle  than  the  desire 
of  gain."  The  first  instalment  of  colonists  came  in  1625, 
but  the  perfect  organization  did  not  take  place  till  1629, 
after  a  second  and  quite  a  large  company  of  immigrants 
arrived,  when  a  Presbyterian  church  was  fully  consti- 
tuted. Their  pastor  was  Rev.  Samuel  Skelton,  and  their 
teacher  Francis  Higginson. 


70  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Why  the  Presbyterians  Were  Liberal. — The  Puritans 
who  were  presbyterian  in  their  opinions  on  church  gov- 
ernment were  Hberal  and  looked  upon  such  form  of  rule 
merely  as  expedient.  They  were  extremely  anxious  that 
the  essential  doctrines  of  the  gospel  should  be  held  in  their 
purity,  and  they  also  wished  to  promote  the  cause  of 
Christ  and  preserve  the  peace  of  the  church.  Thus  when 
occasion  required  they  united  with  the  Congregationalists 
in  the  New  World,  as  they  had  already  done  in  both  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  On  this  principle  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  fraternized  with  those  of  the  Plymouth  colony. 
Dr.  Dexter  says:  "The  early  Congregationalism  of  this 
country  was  a  Congregationalized  Presbyterianism  or  a 
Presbyterianized  Congregationalism,  which  had  its  roots 
in  the  one  system  and  its  branches  in  another;  which  was 
essentially  Genevan  (Calvinistic)  within  the  local  congre- 
gation and  essentially  other  outside  of  it."  {Congregation- 
alism, p.  46 J.)  This  combination  of  church  organization 
gradually  passed  out  of  existence  in  the  colony  and  the 
main  body  of  the  churches  became  Congregational  in  their 
form  of  government,  the  Presbyterians  acquiesced  as  a 
matter  of  expediency  and  a  promoter  of  peace.  Another 
element  had,  perhaps,  an  unconscious  influence  in  after 
years.  That  was  the  success  of  Cromwell  and  the  Inde- 
pendents in  seizing  the  secular  government  in  England, 
which  action  had  a  marked  effect  in  New  England  during 
the  Commonwealth  (1649-1658)  of  promoting  an  in- 
crease in  the  numbers  of  the  churches  that  adopted  the 
Congregational  mode  of  government.  From  this  influ- 
ence came  the  union  of  Church  and  State  after  the  Crom- 
well pattern  in  Massachusetts,  and  afterward  in  Con- 
necticut, and  v^hich  arrangement  remained  in  force  forty 
years  after  the  Presbyterians  had  compelled  the  separa- 
tion of  Church  and  State  in  Virginia  (1773-1786).    The 


EMIGRATIONS     TO     THE     COLONIES.  J I 

influence  of  the  latter  led  within  a  few  years  to  a  similar 
separation  in  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia. 

Limited  Influence  of  the  Synod. — There  were  no  pure 
presbyteries  as  there  are  to-day  formed  in  New  England 
on  account  of  the  differences  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of 
church  government.  The  synods,  so  named,  were  only 
used  for  consultation  and  advice.  They  had  no  power 
to  use  discipline ;  their  authority  being  spiritual  and  moral. 
This  was  consistent  with  the  underlying  principle  which 
made  each  Congregational  Church  independent  and  vir- 
tually isolated  from  sister  churches. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Congregational  Church, — 
The  first  Congregational  Church  in  America  was  formed 
in  Charlestown  on  the  30th  of  July,  1630.  Soon  after- 
ward, "crossing  the  Charles  River,  it  became  known  as 
the  First  Church  of  Boston,"  and  it  also  became  "the 
seminal  center  of  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  Massachu- 
setts." It  embodied  as  one  of  the  principles  of  Congre- 
gationalism :  "The  equality  of  the  several  churches,  free 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  ecclesiastical  court  or  bishop; 
free  from  the  jurisdiction  of  one  church  over  another,  and 
free  from  the  collective  authority  of  them  all."  (Ban- 
croft, vol.  i.,  p.  2^8,  last  revision.) 

The  members  of  the  Independent  ®r  Congregational 
churches  in  New  England  were  largely  in  the  majority, 
and  prospered  greatly,  but  in  the  course  of  time  they  un- 
fortunately became  somewhat  intolerant  in  respect  to 
other  denominations  of  Christians. 

The  Presbyterians  of  New  England  took  much  interest 
in  evangelizing  the  natives.  John  Eliot,  the  Apostle  to 
the  Indians,  was  a  Presbyterian,  and  the  Presbyterians 
who  settled  at  Salem  made  efforts  also  to  send  the  gospel 
to  the  Indians  in  their  vicinity. 

Migration  of  Presbyterians  to  Nezv  York. — In  those 
times  of  ecclesiastical  annoyances,  if  not  harsh  persecu- 


72  A    HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

tions,  most  of  the  emigrants  from  the  British  Isles  to  the 
American  colonies  came  in  organized  bodies,  bringing 
with  them  their  ministers,  as  did  the  Pilgrims  to  Massa- 
chusetts, the  Roman  Catholics  to  Maryland  and  the 
Friends  to  Pennsylvania.  In  only  one  instance,  already 
noticed,  did  the  Presbyterians  attempt  this  mode,  when 
a  Presbyterian  congregation  emigrated  and  settled  in 
Massachusetts  with  Rev.  Samuel  Skelton  as  their  pastor. 
In  after  years  during  more  than  a  half  century  such 
movements  of  congregations  from  one  colony  to  another 
sometimes  occurred  in  order  to  enjoy  more  religious  lib- 
erty, and  perhaps  for  other  reasons. 

The  liberality  of  the  Dutch  on  the  Island  of  Manhattan 
and  vicinity  stands  out  prominent,  and  perhaps  for  this 
reason  more  than  any  other  Presbyterian  ministers  and 
laymen  with  their  families  availed  themselves  of  this  lib- 
erality and  migrated  to  the  colony  of  New  York.  The 
first  was  Rev.  John  Young,  who  had  been  ordained  in 
the  Church  of  England.  He  came  direct  from  New  Eng- 
land and  organized  a  church  at  Southhold,  Long  Island 
(1640).  The  second  was  Abraham  Pierson.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Cambridge.  His  firsfr  pastorate  was  Lynn, 
Massachusetts;  thence  he  removed  to  South  Hampton, 
Long  Island,  and  afterward  to  Branford,  Connecticut. 
From  the  latter  place  he  migrated  with  a  portion  of  his 
church  members  to  Newark,  New  Jersey,  where  he  or- 
ganized the  first  Puritan  Church  in  that  state.  It  was  his 
son  of  the  same  name  who  became  President  of  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1692. 

Francis  Doughty,  who  had  been  silenced  for  non-con- 
formity in  England,  emigrated  to  Taunton,  Massachu- 
setts. There  he  maintained  the  Presbyterian  doctrine  of 
infant  baptism,  but  owing  to  the  hostile  influence  of  the 
Congregational  minister  he  was  forced  to  leave.  He  and 
his  wife  and  Richard  Smith,  a  ruling  elder,  and  other  ad- 


EMIGRATIONS     TO     THE     COLONIES.  73 

herents  came  to  Newtown,  Long  Island,  but  soon  after 
an  Indian  war  broke  out,  and  this  small  number  of  Pres- 
byterians with  their  minister  fled  to  Manhattan  for  safety. 
Thus  Doughty  became  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  in 
New  Amsterdam  (1643).  He  preached  there  for  five 
years  and  was  supported  by  the  contributions  of  his  own 
people  and  the  voluntary  gifts  of  the  Dutch  who  attended 
his  ministry.    He  afterward  went  to  Virginia,  about  1650. 

The  second  Presbyterian  minister  in  New  Amsterdam 
was  Richard  Denton,  though  only  temporarily.  Num- 
bers of  the  Dutch  and  French  attended  on  his  preaching 
in  a  church  building  that  was  within  the  fort,  and  at  dif- 
ferent hours  of  service.  During  this  period  and  imme- 
diately afterward  the  number  of  Puritans  and  Presbyte- 
rians increased,  so  that  when  New  Amsterdam  was  cap- 
tured (1664)  by  the  English  there  were  within  the  bounds 
of  what  is  now  New  York  six  Puritan  or  Presbyterian 
ministers  and  their  congregations,  much  to  the  credit  of 
the  liberality  and  toleration  of  the  Dutch  authorities,  Peter 
Stuyvesant  being  then  the  Governor.  Here  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  Holland,  Presbyterians  and  Inde- 
pendents, as  well  as  Jews  and  Quakers,  all  living  in  har- 
mony and  as  far  as  history  shows  each  denomination  en- 
joying religious  liberty.  The  Presbyterians  and  Inde- 
pendents were  the  more  numerous  and  were  looked  upon 
as  the  more  substantial. 

Rev.  Richard  Denton  deserves  a  passing  notice.  He 
was  a  Presbyterian  in  his  views  of  church  polity.  He 
was  of  a  good  Yorkshire  family  and  received  his  edu- 
cation at  Cambridge  (1623).  For  seven  years  he  was  a 
pastor  in  his  native  land,  but  because  of  persecutions  he 
left  for  America  about  the  year  1630,  and  for  five  years  he 
labored  at  Watertown,  Mass.,  but  because  of  his  Presbyte- 
rianism  he  was  opposed  by  certain  Congregationalists,  and 
in  consequence  he  removed  in  1635  to  the  valley  of  the 
7 


74  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Connecticut  and  settled  in  a  place  which  he  named 
Weathersfield.  Meanwhile  he  preached  also  at  Stam- 
ford, but  in  1644  we  find  him  at  Hempstead,  Long  Island, 
where  he  remained  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
(Christ's)  Church  for  fifteen  years,  when  in  1659  he  re- 
turned to  England.  A  large  number  of  his  church  mem- 
bers followed  him  to  Hempstead. 

Richard  Denton  was  recognized  as  a  fine  scholar.  The 
Dutch  pastors  of  New  Amsterdam  describe  him  to  be 
a  Presbyterian  and  "an  honest,  pious  and  learned  man." 
Though  the  regular  pastor  at  Hempstead,  Denton  occa- 
sionally ministered  in  New  Amsterdam  in  an  English 
Puritan  Church,  after  the  Rev.  Francis  Doughty  (1650) 
left  for  Virginia. 

Christ's  First  Presbyterian  Church  at  Hempstead  re- 
cently (October,  1894)  celebrated  with  imposing  ceremo- 
nies the  250th  anniversary  of  its  permanent  founding  by 
Richard  Denton.  "Our  claim  is  not  that  the  Hempstead 
church  is  the  oldest  Protestant  and  presbyterial  in  form 
in  the  churches  in  America  *  *  *  but  that  it  is  the 
oldest  of  the  denomination  which  has  always  been  called 
by  the  name  Presbyterian."  (Souvenir  of  the  250th  An- 
niversary, etc.,  p.  20;  Am.  Pres.,  p.  102.) 

Christian  Brotherhood  in  Practice. — The  beautiful  con- 
dition mentioned  above  of  Christian  brotherhood  and  mu- 
tual toleration  was  destined  to  be  changed  soon,  for  when 
the  English  took  possession  of  the  province  for  the  sec- 
ond time  (in  1674)  almost  at  once  was  felt  the  perse- 
cuting spirit  of  the  bishops  around  the  corrupt  court  of 
Charles  H.  Notwithstanding  these  annoyances  for  about 
twenty  years  afterward  Presbyterian  and  Independent 
ministers,  some  with  their  families  and  not  a  few  adher- 
ents, continued  to  emigrate  from  England  and  Scotland 
and  from  the  north  of  Ireland  to  the  colonies  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey.    Many  of  these  made  their  homes 


EMIGRATIONS    TO    THE    COLONIES.  75 

on  Long  Island,  which  seems  to  have  been  to  these  im- 
migrants a  favorite  region.  Meanwhile  many  settled  in 
what  is  now  known  as  Westchester  County,  as  well  as  on 
the  Isle  of  Manhattan  itself. 

Statement  of  Governor  Andross. — In  1678  Edmund 
Andross,  who  was  Governor  under  James  IL,  wrote  that 
there  were  in  the  province  "religions  of  all  sorts;  one 
Church  of  England,  several  Presbyterians  and  Independ- 
ents, Quakers,  Anabaptists  of  several  sects,  some  Jews, 
but  Presbyterians  and  Independents  most  numerous  and 
substantial.'"  During  this  period  we  notice  the  names  of 
nearly  thirty  ministers  who  came  at  different  times  and 
settled  in  many  places  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  New 
York  colony.  It  would  seem  that  the  Presbyterians  and 
Independents  increased  at  even  a  greater  ratio  than  did 
their  ministry. 

Influence  of  the  Act  of  Toleration. — Until  the  great 
Revolution  of  1688 — when  James  II.  was  driven  from 
the  throne  to  give  place  to  William  61  Orange — the  diffi- 
culties that  arose  between  the  royal  governors  and  the 
people,  both  Dutch  and  Puritan,  pertained  to  civil  affairs 
rather  than  to  religious  matters.  The  Revolution  of  1688 
had  to  a  certain  extent  brought  toleration  to  those  Chris- 
tians in  England  who  dissented  from  the  established 
church,  but  not  to  the  same  class  in  the  colonies,  inas- 
much as  the  secular  authorities  of  the  latter  held  that  the 
Act  of  Toleration  did  not  apply  to  the  colonies.  We  shall 
see  that  after  a  long  and  severe  struggle  it  was  finally  de- 
cided in  the  case  of  the  Colony  of  Virginia  (1748,  p.  168) 
that  the  act  did  apply  to  the  colonies. 


X. 


Contrast  in  Land-Holdings — The  Cavaliers — Eld- 
ers AS  Worthies. 

In  Virginia  owing  to  royal  grants  of  large  bodies  of 
land — often  whole  counties — to  court  favorites,  an  effort 
was  made  to  found  a  system  of  landed  estates,  which  in 
important  respects  was  in  contrast  with  the  settlements  in 
the  northern  colonies.  In  Virginia  these  large  grants  of 
land  rendered  the  population  less  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  of  territory  occupied  than  in  the  latter,  the  result 
in  time  was  a  landed  aristocracy  modeled  somewhat  after 
that  of  England.  This  aristocracy  was  from  first  to  last 
derelict  in  its  duty  toward  the  general  education  of  the 
youth  of  the  colony.  In  Massachusetts,  for  example,  the 
landed  system  was  in  direct  contrast,  as  in  the  latter  the 
estates  in  land  were  comparatively  small,  while  the  laW, 
and  subsequently  the  rule  in  the  other  New  England  colo- 
nies, was  far-reaching  in  its  influence.  In  accordance 
with  the  law  the  farms  were  compact  and  so  arranged 
that  one  end  should  jut  on  a  street,  on  which  were  placed 
the  dwellings,  and  they  within  a  specified  distance  from 
the  meeting-house  and  the  school-room.  These  two  con- 
trasted systems  produced  in  time  radical  differences  in  the 
educational  and  religious  training  of  the  people;  for  il- 
lustration, public  or  common  schools  were  firmly  estab- 
lished in  Massachusetts  in  1647;  ^"^1  these  soon  became 
the  heritage  of  the  children  throughout  New  England, 
and  in  time  in  the  other  free-labor  States,  while  not  a  com- 
mon school  in  the  usual  sense  was  in  existence  south  of 


CONTRAST    IN    LAND-HOLDINGS.  77 

Mason  and  Dixon's  line  till  they  were  established  by  the 
.national  government  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 
(Pafton's  Four  Hundred  Years  of  American  History. 
L,p.  124;  H.,  pp.  858,  859.) 

In  a  community  in  which  all  the  youth  were  taught  the 
essential  elements  of  an  education  there  was  a  better 
foundation  on  which  to  base  a  Christianized  civilization 
than  in  one  in  which  the  majority  of  the  parents  were  illit- 
erate, and  consequently  the  children  ignorant. 

The  Royalists. — Another  element,  that  of  the  Royalists 
or  Cavaliers,  prevailed  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  but 
nowhere  else  in  the  colonies.  The  Cavaliers  or  Royalists 
were  all  in  connection  with  the  Church  of  England  and 
were  fair  exponents  of  the  persecuting  spirit  which  that 
church  inherited  from  the  hierarchy  of  Rome.  For  this 
reason  we  find  that  after  the  abrogation  of  the  original 
charter  of  the  Virginia  Company,  the  dissenters,  or  those 
Christians  who  could  not  in  their  conscience  conform  to 
the  ceremonies  of  the  established  church,  were  at  the 
mercy  of  the  clergy  of  that  church  then  in  the  colony.  The 
latter,  for  the  most  part,  were  stimulated  by  the  spirit  of 
the  bishops  at  home,  as  they  were  incessantly  urging  the 
royal  governors,  the  court  and  civil  authorities  to  pro- 
hibit the  dissenting  ministers  preaching,  except  under 
certain  harsh  conditions.  To  their  honor,  be  it  said,  the 
royal  governors — except  Sir  William  Berkeley — were  in- 
clined to  favor  the  dissenting  ministers  in  preaching  the 
gospel — we  will  see  in  the  course  of  this  narrative  this 
fact  made  manifest.  The  Colony  of  Virginia  was  the  only 
one  in  which  the  civil  authorities  had  arbitrary  power  in 
church  affairs,  and  it  was  the  only  one  in  which  a  contest 
for  religious  liberty  could  be  made  direct  with  such  au- 
thorities. 

Berkeley's  Prayer. — Sir  William  Berkeley  is  the  author 
of  the  now  famous  words  of  gratitude  and  prayer:    "I 


78  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing  in  the 
colony;  and  I  hope  we  will  not  have  them  these  hundred 
years ;  God  deliver  us  from  both !"  (Patton's  Four  Hun- 
dred Years,  etc.,  I.,  pp.  i^8,  ijp.)  Such  was  the  predom- 
inant influence  on  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  col- 
ony, and  whose  effects  are  felt  even  in  our  own  times. 

Why  the  Enmity  of  the  Clergy  f — The  Cavaliers  looked 
upon  the  Presbyterians  as  inimical  to  the  established 
church,  and  therefore  to  the  House  of  Stuart.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  feeling  the  clergy  of  that  church  in  the 
colony  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters that  came  to  Virginia  as  missionaries.  This  hostile 
spirit  on  the  part  of  these  clergy  toward  all  dissenters 
continued  unabated  from  1642  to  1786,  when,  as  we  shall 
see,  the  connection  between  the  State  and  the  Church  was 
severed  forever. 

The  Charter  for  Maryland. — Sir  George  Calvert,  after- 
ward Lord  Baltimore,  left  the  Protestant  Church  and 
professed  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  which  ingratiated 
him  with  King  Charles  I.  Calvert  desired  to  found  a 
colony  where  those  of  his  present  faith  could  flee  to  avoid 
persecution.  After  making  a  fruitless  attempt  on  the 
barren  territory  of  Newfoundland,  he  applied  to  Charles 
for  a  grant  of  land  and  the  privilege  of  founding  a  colony 
in  the  fertile  and  beautiful  region  north  of  Virginia.  The 
request  was  granted,  and  he  obtained  a  charter  and  a 
district  of  territory,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  now 
included  in  the  present  State  of  Maryland  (1632). 

The  Liberal  Policy. — Calvert  was  prudent  and  far-see- 
ing; having  been  trained  in  his  youth  as  a  Protestant,  he 
repudiated  intolerance  as  a  policy,  and  he  invited  the  Pur- 
itans who  were  then  being  driven  out  of  Virginia  by  the 
persecuting  Berkeley,*  to  come  and  share  the  religious 
privileges  that  were  enjoyed  by  the  Catholics,  for  whom, 
ostensibly,  his  colony  was  founded.     The  latter  soon  be- 


Rev.  John  Rodgers,  D.  D. 
(141, 208, 247, 280.) 


CONTRAST    IN    LAND-HOLDINGS.  79 

came  the  minority,  owing  to  the  influx  of  those  thus  in- 
vited. The  colony  freed  from  civil  and  religious  turmoil 
continued  to  flourish  for  years;  the  privileges  of  the  peo- 
ple were  understood;  allegiance  was  acknowledged  to  the 
home  government,  and  the  tights  of  the  heirs  of  Lord  Bal- 
timore were  respected. 

The  people  advanced  so  far  in  their  ideas  of  the  liberty 
of  thought  and  free  expression  that  the  authorities  passed 
a  law  (1649)  granting  perfect  toleration  to  all  Christian 
sects;  two  years  previous  Rhode  Island  had  granted  tol- 
eration to  all  opinions,  infidel  as  well  as  Christian. 

The  Repentant  Chaplain. — Rev.  Thomas  Harrison  was 
at  one  time  the  chaplain  of  Governor  Berkeley.  He  was 
a  strict  conformist  and  stern  opposer  of  those  Christians 
who  did  not  conform,  aind  he  is  charged  with  instigating 
the  Governor  to  acts  of  intolerance  against  the  Puritan 
ministers.  Harrison,  however,  relented  in  his  manner 
toward  the  persecuted,  and  finally  became  himself  an  ear- 
nest Christian  minister  or  Puritan.  The  Governor  dis- 
missed him  from  his  service  as  chaplain.  He  then  de- 
voted himself  to  preaching  to  a  Presbyterian  church  at 
Nansemond.  He  was  so  much  annoyed  by  petty  perse- 
cutions that  he  removed  to  Boston  and  thence  to  Eng- 
land, where  in  behalf  of  the  church  members  of  Nanse- 
mond, he  complained  to  the  government  of  the  ill-treat- 
ment which  they  had  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Gov- 
ernor. The  Council  of  State  was  now  under  Cromwell 
( 1649)  ^^^  ^^  required  Berkeley  "to  permit  the  same  Mr. 
Harrison  to  return  to  his  said  congregation  and  to  the 
exercise  of  his  ministry  there."  Mr.  Harrison,  however, 
did  not  return  to  Virginia,  but  the  members  of  his  church 
in  order  to  avoid  further  persecutions  migrated  to  Mary- 
land under  the  leadership  of  their  ruling  elder,  William 
Durand.  The  congregation  was  invited  by  Captain  Will- 
iam Stone,  a  Protestant,  who  was  then  Governor  of  the 


Ho  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

colony  for  Lord  Baltimore.  This  company  of  exiles  was 
afterward  followed  by  many  families  from  the  vicinity 
of  Nansemond,  who  thus  escaped  from  the  intolerance  of 
Berkeley.  Durand  was  a  man  of  sterling  character  and 
influence.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  he  was 
appointed  secretary  of  the  commission  sent  from  England 
lo  reduce  Virginia  and  Maryland  to  obedience  to  the 
parliament. 

The  Worthy  Elder. — Colonel  Ninian  Beall  was  well 
qualified  as  a  Christian  and  benevolent  man  to  succeed 
the  excellent  elder,  William  Durand.  Mr.  Beall  came 
to  Maryland  in  1657;  ^^  made  his  way  to  success;  from 
a  mechanic  of  limited  means  he  became  for  the  times 
a  man  of  wealth,  owning  much  land.  Enterprising  in 
business  he  aided  the  people  by  introducing  needed  man- 
ufactures, such  as  a  flour  mill  and  a  furnace  to  smelt 
iron  from  ore  found  in  the  vicinity.  In  these  times  of 
trouble  from  hostile  Indians  he  took  an  interest  in  mil- 
itary affairs,  and  on  occasion  commanded  a  portion  of  the 
provincial  troops.  In  recognition  of  such  service  the 
Colonial  Assembly  gave  him  a  special  grant. 

In  the  affairs  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  the  west 
shore  of  the  Chesapeake  he  was  an  efficient  officer,  hold- 
ing as  best  he  could  the  church  members  together  in  the 
absence  of  a  pastor.  "He  may  lay  claim  to  be  called  the 
father  of  Presbyterianism  in  Maryland.  He  was  present 
at  its  birth,  sustained  it  in  its  day  of  weakness  and  in 
1704  gave  it  a  handsome  endowment  of  land  at  Upper 
Marlboro,  or  Patuxent,  for  a  church  building."  He 
lived  to  a  great  age,  92  years,  dying  in  1717;  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  ministers  who  constituted  the 
first  presbytery.  (P.  92.)  He  saw  a  single  church  grow 
into  a  vigorous  synod.  *  *  *  It  is  almost  certain 
that  he  is  the  'ancient  and  comely  man,  an  elder  amongst 
the    Presbyterians,'    who    entertained     for     some     davs 


CONTRAST    IN     LAND-HOLDINGS.  8 1 

Thomas  Wilson,  the  famous  Quaker  preacher,  at  his 
house  in  1692" — as  noted  in  the  latter's  Hfe.  (Early 
Presbyterianism  in  Maryland,  p.  i^.) 

Doughty  and  Hill. — Rev.  Francis  Doughty,  whom  we 
have  seen  as  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  in  New  Am- 
sterdam, had  a  difficulty  with  the  Governor,  Peter  Stuy- 
vesant,  in  relation  to  a  land  grant  of  which  the  Governor 
wished  to  deprive  him,  and  to  avoid  the  anger  of  the 
former  Doughty  migrated  to  the  Colony  of  Maryland. 
For  this  high-handed  measure  the  Governor  was  called 
to  an  account  by  the  authorities  in  Holland.  {Am.  Pres., 
p.  1 01.)  Doughty  preached  to  the  exiles  from  Virginia, 
and  thus  he  labored  until  his  death,  in  traveling  from 
place  to  place  as  an  apostle.  The  little  flocks  to  whom 
he  ministered  in  time  were  organized  into  churches,  which 
were  afterward  represented  in  a  presbytery. 

Another  worthy  of  this  period  deserves  mention- 
Matthew  Hill.  He  had  been  ejected  from  his  living  in 
England  because  of  his  non-conformity  (1662),  and 
seven  years  later  we  find  him  preaching  to  the  people  in 
Maryland,  whom  he  describes  as  "a  loving  and  a  willing 
people  *  *  *  and  not  at  all  fond  of  the  litany  or 
ceremonies."  "To  Francis  Doughty  and  Matthew  Hill, 
long-forgotten  worthies,  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
Middle  States  is  indebted  for  its  early  planting.  They 
were  the  pioneers  and  martyrs  in  its  ministry,  and  their 
sufiFerings  and  toils  were  the  seed  of  the  church."  {Am. 
Pres.,  p.  113.) 


XI. 


Francis     Makemie — Presbyterianism     in     Several 
Colonies. 

The  most  devoted  and  influential  minister  in  the  cause 
of  Presbyterianism  in  its  earlier  days  in  the  colonies  of 
Virginia  and  Maryland  was  Francis  Makemie.  He  came 
in  1683  from  the  north  of  Ireland.  He  belonged  to  that 
portion  of  the  people  denominated  Scotch-Irish;  that  is 
of  Scotch  ancestry,  but  natives  of  Ireland.  There  is  no 
record  of  the  names  of  his  parents,  and  only  a  reference 
to  the  days  of  his  youth.  He  says  of  himself  that  in  his 
fifteenth  year,  while  under  the  instruction  of  a  pious 
schoolmaster,  he  felt  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
his  soul. 

He  studied  in  the  University  of  Glasgow  and  was  li- 
censed to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Laggan  in  Ire- 
land, under  whose  direction  he  was  sent  as  a  missionary 
to  the  Barbadoes  or  Bermuda  Islands,  and  from  there 
he  came  to  Maryland.  He  traveled  much  as  an  itinerant 
and  preached  to  the  small  Presbyterian  flocks  that  were 
scattered  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  especially  in  the 
latter.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  dissenting  min- 
ister that  was  permitted  by  the  colonial  authorities  to 
preach  in  Virginia;  this  permission  was,  perhaps,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  having  a  certificate  authorizing  him  to 
preach  in  Barbadoes.  He  is  thought  to  have  been  the 
first  minister  of  the  Geneva  or  Calvinistic  school  that 
made  his  residence  in  this  region. 

He  came  thither  about  forty  years  after  the  formula- 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  83 

tion  of  the  Westminster  Confession,  in  which  was  a 
clear  statement  in  respect  to  the  duties  of  the  civil  mag- 
istrate, as  pertaining  to  religious  worship.  He  was  evi- 
dently familiar  with  these  principles  as  put  forth  in  that 
confession,  as  he  made  an  application  of  them  in  his  ar- 
gument with  the  colonial  authorities,  when  advocating 
his  right  to  preach  the  gospel. 

Makemies  Business  Talents. — Makemie  appears  to 
have  been  a  man  of  some  means,  which,  says  tradition, 
was  derived  from  the  fortune  of  his  wife,  who  was  the 
daughter  of  a  wealthy  colonist  of  Accomac  County,  Vir- 
ginia. He  was  a  successful  merchant  in  the  West  India 
trade.  When  in  the  colonies  he  traveled  and  preached, 
though  his  secular  affairs  often  required  his  absence,  but 
finally  he  settled  down  and  devoted  his  whole  time  to 
preaching  and  at  his  own  expense;  in  that  respect  adopt- 
ing the  Apostle  Paul  as  his  model.  Thus  he  labored  from 
first  to  last,  about  twenty-five  years.  He  organized  into 
churches  the  little  groups  of  Presbyterians  of  Maryland, 
many  of  whose  members  were  exiles  from  the  religious 
intolerance  of  Berkeley  in  Virginia. 

It  appears  that  after  1698  Makemie  made  Snow  Hill, 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  his  settled  home.  The 
church  of  which  he  was  pastor  was  authorized  by  the 
Provincial  Assembly  about  1699.  For  the  reader  will  re- 
member that  in  1692  the  Church  of  England  was  by  law 
established  in  Maryland — hence  the  ne,cessity  for  a  per- 
mit to  have  a  Presbyterian  church.  The  perfect  freedom 
of  religious  worship  had  vanished  from  Maryland,  and 
now  the  bishops  at  home  and  the  clergy  in  the  colony 
stimulated  the  civil  authorities  to  interfere  with  the  "dis- 
senters." The  Presbyterians  felt  this  influence  still  fur- 
ther in  their  being  compelled  by  law  to  pay  taxes  to  sup- 
port the  clergy  of  the  established  church. 

The  Memorial  Church. — A  few  years  since,  in  1889, 


84  A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

at  Snow  Hill  was  dedicated  the  "Francis  Makemie  Me- 
morial Church."  Thus  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  two 
hundred  years,  Makemie's  labors  w^ere  duly  recognized 
and  honored  by  a  thankful  generation  of  Presbyterians. 
Makemie  left  no  descendants.  Says  a  chronicler  of  the 
times:  "Numerous  parents  manifested  their  respect  for 
his  memory  by  giving  his  surname  to  certain  of  their 
children  and  in  the  last  century  in  that  region  Makemie 
was  very  common  as  a  Christian  name." 

A  Staunch  Defender  of  Religious  Liberty. — Francis 
Makemie  was  a  steadfast  and  consistent  defender  of  the 
right  to  preach  the  gospel,  in  which  character  he  often 
figured.  The  famous  Toleration  Act  was  passed  in  1689. 
It  afforded  religious  liberty  under  certain  conditions,  but 
only  partially  to  the  dissenters  in  England,  and  not  even 
to  the  same  extent  in  the  colonies,  as  the  authorities  of  the 
latter,  especially  in  Virginia,  assumed  that  the  act  did 
not  apply  to  the  colonies,  and  the  Virginia  civil  officers 
and  courts  acted  on  that  principle  for  more  than  half  a 
century  after  the  time  of  which  we  write,  and  in  fact  till 
compelled  by  Presbyterian  influence  to  yield  the  point. 
{See  p.  168.)  Makemie  claimed  that  the  Act  of  Tolera- 
tion was  in  force  in  the  colonies,  as  well  as  in  England. 
This  opinion  he  presented  with  great  force  in  an  argu- 
ment before  the  Governor  and  Council  in  Virginia,  and 
afterward  in  New  York  before  Lord  Cornbury.  He 
demanded  in  both  instances  the  recognition  of  the  rights 
of  conscience  as  acknowledged  by  English  law.  He 
claimed  it  was  no  crime  to  preach  the  gospel  to  those  who 
desired  to  hear  it. 

After  the  Church  of  England  was  established  in  1692 
Makemie  applied  under  the  Toleration  Act  to  the  court 
in  Accomac  for  a  license  to  preach.  The  court  could  not 
deny  him,  because  he  used  his  own  private  houses,  of 
which  he  had  two,  as  preaching  places,  and  they  were 


FRANCIS     MAKEMIE.  85 

protected  by  the  common  law,  since  an  "Englishman's 
house  was  his  castle,"  and  not  even  the  king  himself  could 
legally  enter  it  without  the  owner's  permission.  Public 
buildings  in  Virginia  were  denied  the  dissenters  for  re- 
ligious worship. 

A  Presbyterian  Church  Organised. — Makemie  organ- 
ized a  Presbyterian  church,  which  was  named  Reho- 
both,  and  whose  house  of  worship  remains  to  this  day 
on  the  Maryland  side  of  the  Potomac.  In  his  will  he 
left  the  house  "for  the  ends  and  use  of  a  Presbyterian 
congregation,  as  if  I  were  personally  present,  and  to  their 
successors  forever,  and  none  else,  but  to  such  of  the  same 
persuasion  in  matters  of  religion."  Makemie  organized  a 
sufficient  number  of  Presbyterian  churches,  which  at  his 
death  in  1708  required  for  their  pastoral  care  three  minis- 
ters. In  all  his  life  he  was  in  advance  of  many  of  his  own 
age,  and  a  consistent  advocate  for  civil  liberty  and  equal 
religious  rights,  granting  in  spirit  and  in  act  to  others  the 
same  rights  that  he  demanded  for  himself. 

Thus  in  this  region,  so  isolated  because  of  its  position, 
it  being  "a  narrow  neck  of  land  between  the  ocean  and 
Chesapeake  Bay,"  and  on  that  portion  which  belongs 
to  Maryland,  originated  the  mother  churches  of  the  Pres- 
byterian denomination  in  the  Middle  States.  The  land 
of  this  district  was  by  no  means  inviting  to  colonists  be- 
cause of  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  for  it  was  as  barren  then 
as  it  is  to-day;  but  it  was  in  Maryland,  where  religious 
liberty,  till  1692,  was  enjoyed,  in  contrast  with  its  neigh- 
bor, Virginia,  in  which  the  intolerant  Church  of  Eng- 
land held  ecclesiastical  sway.  Owing  to  its  secluded 
position,  there  is,  perhaps,  no  region  on  the  Atlantic 
slope  whose  inhabitants  in  their  characteristics  have 
changed  so  little  from  those  of  that  early  day. 

Makemie's  Trial  in  New  York. — In  this  connection 
we  notice  an  incident  that  made  the  name  of  Makemie 


86  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

known  throughout  the  colonies.  He  was  on  his  way  to 
Boston,  accompanied  by  John  Hampton,  a  Presbyterian 
minister.  Having  stopped  at  New  York,  he  was  invited 
by  the  Puritans  of  the  place  to  preach;  the  Dutch  offer- 
ing their  church  edifice  for  the  purpose,  but  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  the  Governor,  forbid  its  being  thus  used.  Make- 
mie,  however,  preached  in  a  private  house  (Jan.  20, 
1707).  According  to  the  recognized  "Englishmen's 
Rights"  and  English  common  law,  as  the  court  after- 
ward decided,  the  citizen  who  offered  his  own  private 
dwelling  for  the  purpose  of  holding  a  religious  service  was 
justified,  as  well  as  the  preacher.  Notwithstanding  this 
fact,  for  thus  preaching  Makemie  was  arrested  by  order 
of  the  Governor  a  day  or  two  later  at  Newtown,  Long 
Island,  where  he  was  to  preach.  He  had  with  him  a 
certificate  authorizing  him  to  preach  in  Virginia  and  also 
in  Barbadoes,  but  not  in  New  York,  and  therefore  the 
Governor  forbid  his  preaching  in  the  province.  Make- 
mie boldly  answered  the  Governor,  saying:  "To  give 
bond  and  security  to  preach  no  more  in  your  Excellency's 
government,  if  invited  and  desired  by  any  people,  we 
neither  dare  nor  can  do."  The  result  was  that  Makemie 
was  bound  over  for  trial,  which  was  to  take  place  on 
June  3,  1707.  Having  been  detained  a  month  or  more 
his  friends  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  on  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  and  he  was  released  on  bail  (March  ist, 
1707).  The  case  of  Hampton,  who  was  also  arrested, 
was  not  pressed.  Makemie  returned  to  New  York  and 
stood  his  trial  and  was  acquitted  by  the  court  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  complied  with  the  conditions  of  the 
Toleration  Act.  Thus  his  license  to  preach  in  the  Bar- 
badoes was  held  to  be  valid  throughout  the  queen's  do- 
minions. But,  strange  to  say,  Makemie  was  obliged  by 
the  couri  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  trial,  ^83  7s.  6d.  He 
was  defended  by  three  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  prov- 


FRANCIS    MAKEMIE.  8j 

ince.  Tlie  tjTannical  action  of  the  dissolute  Cornbury 
roused  the  entire  body  of  the  Puritans  and  Presbyterians 
against  such  injustice  and  intolerance.  Francis  Makemie 
died  the  following  year,  1708.  {Am.  Pres.,  XLIX.,  A  pp.) 
(See  p.  94.) 

Presbyterianism  in  New  Jersey. — We  have  already  al- 
luded to  the  settlement  of  Abraham  Pierson  at  Newark 
and  of  his  son  of  the  same  name  in  East  New  Jersey 
(1667-1692),  Meantime  large  numbers  of  Presbyte- 
rians were  migrating  to  the  same  colony  from  New  Eng- 
land and  New  York — many  from  the  latter  to  avoid  the 
petty  annoyances  of  the  established  church.  Puritan  or 
Presbyterian  churches  were  established  under  their  min- 
isters at  Elizabethtown  and  at  Woodbridge  about  1680. 
A  writer  of  the  time  describes  the  people  of  this  portion 
of  Jersey  as  follows :  "They  are  mostly  New  England 
men,"  of  ''several  sorts  of  religion,  but  few  are  zealous." 
In  every  town  there  is  a  meeting-house  where  they  wor- 
ship publicly  every  week."  Their  ministers  were  sup- 
ported by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  people,  there 
being  no  law  providing  for  their  salaries.  From  Pil- 
loche  in  Scotland  there  came  in  1685  inore  than  one  hun- 
dred exiles,  who  settled  mostly  at  Woodbridge.  With 
them  came  their  pastor.  Rev.  George  Scott,  who  with  his 
brethren,  Archibald  Riddel  and  John  Frazer,  had  been 
imprisoned  because  of  their  fidelity  to  Presbyterian  prin- 
ciples. Others  came  also,  but  in  not  so  large  companies. 
A  number  of  Puritans  migrated  from  Fairfield  County, 
Connecticut,  under  their  pastor,  Thomas  Bridge,  and 
founded  a  church  at  Cohanzy,  in  what  was  then  called 
West  Jersey.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1699  there  were 
only  four  fully  organized  congregations  of  Puritans  or 
Presbyterians  in  that  colony,  and  three  settled  ministers. 

Preshyterianisrn  in  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania. — The 
earliest  founding  of  Presbyterianism  in  Delaware  was 


88  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

under  the  ministry  of  Samuel  Davis,  who  had  a  church 
and  congregation  at  Lewes  in  1692.  Davis  was  probably 
an  Irishman.  He  supported  himself  by  business  pur- 
suits. It  appears  from  their  correspondence  on  the  sub- 
ject, that  the  ministers  of  Boston  took  an  interest  in  send- 
ing the  gospel  to  Delaware  and  to  Pennsylvania.  They 
sent  Rev.  John  Wilson  to  New  Castle,  Delaware,  to  min- 
ister to  the  church  in  that  place,  and  Rev.  Benjamin 
Woodbridge  to  Philadelphia.  The  latter  bore  a  letter 
of  introduction  from  Governor  Danforth  of  Massachu- 
setts to  Governor  Markham  of  Pennsylvania,  saying: 
"Our  beloved  brother,  Benjamin  Woodbridge,  now  sent, 
not  to  handle  such  points  as  are  matters  of  controversies 
among  Protestants,  but  to  preach  unto  as  many  of  all 
persuasions  as  the  Lord  shall  make  willing  to  hear  such 
truths,  even  as  are  without  controversy,  even  the  great 
mystery  of  godliness."  (Am.  Pres.,  p.  12^.)  Wood- 
bridge  was  superseded  by  Rev.  Jedediah  Andrews 
(1698),  who  served  as  the  pastor  of  this,  the  only  Presby- 
terian church  in  Philadelphia,  for  many  years  until  his 
death.  He  became  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  first  Amer- 
ican classical  presbytery — consisting  of  ministers  and 
elders — in  the  colonies. 

Prcsbyterianism  in  South  Carolina. — While  these  mi- 
grations were  in  progress  in  the  northern  colonies  Pres- 
byterian immigrants  were  coming  into  the  southern,  es- 
pecially into  South  Carolina.  Owing  to  civil  commotions 
in  Scotland  numbers  of  Scotchmen,  who  were  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  English  government,  were  banished. 
A  company  of  these,  consisting  of  twenty-two,  sailed  from 
Glasgow  having  with  them  a  minister,  William  Dunlop. 
They  landed  at  Port  Royal,  South  Carolina,  about  1685 
or  1686,  and  commenced  a  settlement,  but  owing  to  the 
unwholesomeness  of  the  locality  it  was  soon  abandoned. 


FRANCIS     MAKEMIE.  89 

Their  pastor  returned  to  Scotland,  where  he  rose  to  emi- 
nence as  principal  of  the  University  of  Glasgow. 

Missionaries  Sent — A  Colony  Formed. — Meantime  the 
attention  of  the  New  England  Puritans  was  directed  to 
these  southern  colonies  and  they  sent  thither  ministers 
as  missionaries,  under  whose  ministrations  a  number  of 
churchei  were  established  in  the  colony.  An  attempt  was 
also  made  by  a  trading  company  to  found  a  colony  of 
Scotch  people  on  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  in  1698  or  1699. 
The  General  Assembly  of  Scotland  sent  to  the  colony 
several  ministers  to  preach  and  act  as  pastors.  Three 
of  these  ministers,  Alexander  Shields,  Francis  Boreland 
and  Archibald  Stobo,  instituted  the  Presbytery  of  Cale- 
donia, the  first  presbytery  in  the  New  World.  The  germs 
planted  here  were  not,  however,  permitted  to  grow  and 
flourish.  For  within  a  few  years  the  colony  was  broken 
up  through  the  enmity  of  French  and  Spanish  and  hos- 
tile English  traders — the  home  government  meanly  con- 
niving at  the  outrage,  as  it  did  not  wish  to  cherish  a 
Scottish  colony.  The  majority  of  the  colonists  finally 
migrated  to  New  England,  where  they  were  received  with 
great  kindness.  Of  their  ministers  one  died  and  another 
returned  home,  and  one — Archibald  Stobo  and  his  wife — 
were  on  their  way  to  Scotland  when  the  ship  was  driven 
by  a  storm  to  seek  shelter  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston, 
S.C.  There  he  was  invited  to  become  the  pastor  of  a  Pres- 
byterian congregation  whose  minister,  John  Cotton,  had 
died  recently.  He  accepted  the  invitation  and  spent  his 
life  as  their  pastor  and  in  the  promotion  of  Presbyterian- 
ism  in  that  colony.  Stobo  was  a  graduate  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh  (1697).  There  were  also  a  number 
of  other  Puritan  congregations  in  the  vicinity  of  Charles- 
ton. In  one  instance  the  members  of  one  entire  church 
with  their  pastor,  Joseph  Lord,  removed  from  Charles- 
town,  Mass.,  to  Dorchester,  S.  C.  It  has  been  estimated 
8 


90  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

that  in  1700  there  were  in  the  Carolinas  several  thousands 
of  distinctive  Presbyterians,  besides  those  who  were  Con- 
gregationalists. 


XII. 

The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  (1706). 

There  had  been  no  effort  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  to  constitute  a  presbytery  and  form  of  govern- 
ment for  the  Presbyterian  churches  that  were  scattered 
along  the  Atlantic  slope  from  Connecticut  to  Florida.  At 
this  time  there  had  been  Presbyterian  ministers  in  the 
midle  colonies  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  who 
labored  in  the  capacity  of  evangelists  or  traveling  preach- 
ers and  also  as  settled  pastors.  There  were  some  ten  or 
more  Presbyterian-Puritan  churches  in  New  York  and 
New  Jersey;  these  were  of  New  England  origin,  while 
churches  of  a  more  decided  presbyterial  type  abounded 
further  south  in  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia and  South  Carolina. 

Among  the  people  of  New  England  the  form  of  church 
government  —  presbyterial  or  congregational — .was 
deemed  non-essential,  and  under  these  circumstances 
those  who  favored  the  presbyterial  form  waved  their  pref- 
erences on  that  point  and  joined  in  with  the  majority, 
who  were  Congregationalists,  while  in  the  colonies  west 
of  Connecticut  the  Congregationalists,  for  similar  rea- 
sons, merged  in  with  the  Presbyterians.  It  often  hap- 
pened that  a  Presbyterian  minister  became  the  pastor 
of  a  Congregational  church,  and  as  often  was  it  the  re- 
verse. This  custom  has  been  kept  up  to  the  present  time ; 
the  two  denominations  agreeing  in  the  essential  doctrines 
of  the  gospel  thus  manifested  sympathy  with  one  an- 
other.   A  marked  good  feeling  at  this  period  also  prevailed 


92  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

between  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Congregational  or  In- 
dependent Puritans  of  the  British  Isles,  and  naturally  this 
Christian  sentiment  extended  to  their  brethren  in  the 
New  World. 

The  Presbytery  Constituted. — The  Presbyterians  of  the 
Middle  colonies,  though  all  from  Great  Britain,  were  of 
different  nationalities,  as  well  as  their  ministers.  Scot- 
land, England,  Wales  and  Ireland  had  their  representa- 
tives, while  especially  in  New  York  a  liberal  and  most  ex- 
cellent element  was  present  in  the  Dutch  population. 
Such  were  the  conditions  under  which  the  mother  pres- 
bytery of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
was  constituted.  "It  was  not  organized  by  a  higher  body. 
It  did  not  seek  authority  from  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  or  from  the  Synod  of  Ulster.  It 
organized  itself  by  a  voluntary  association  of  ministers. 
It  seems  to  have  taken  the  Presbytery  of  Dublin  as  a 
model.  It  was  a  broad,  generous,  tolerant  spirit  which 
effected  this  union."  The  Presbytery  of  Dublin,  whose 
members  were  chiefly  English  Presbyterians,  maintained 
its  independence  of  the  Synod  of  Ulster,  although  some  of 
the  ministers  w^ere  members  of  both  bodies.  "The  Pres- 
byterians of  the  north  of  Ireland  were  from  Scotland, 
as  those  of  the  south  were  from  England.  The  northern 
Presbyterians  were  zealous  for  the  Scotch  presbytery, 
but  the  southern  were  suspicious  of  its  claims  for  jurisdic- 
tion."    {Am.  Pres.,  p.  133.) 

There  were  present  seven  ministers;  they  met  at  Free- 
hold, New  Jersey,  in  1706.  This  appears  from  the  min- 
utes to  have  been  the  second  meeting,  the  record  of  the 
first  one  having  been  lost  with  the  first  page  of  the  min- 
utes, and  it  is  presumed  that  the  presbytery  was  really 
formed  in  1705.  Four  of  the  ministers  present  were  set- 
tled pastors,  and  three  were  missionaries  or  itinerants. 
Their  respective  charges  were  far  separated,  and  great 


THE  PRESBYTERY  OF  PHILADELPHIA  (1706).      93 

must  have  been  the  difficulties  of  traveling  on  account  of 
the  badness  of  the  roads;  the  Indians  were  even  yet  on 
the  borders  of  the  settlements.  Francis  Makemie  was 
pastor  at  Snow  Hill,  Maryland — whom  tradition  says  was 
the  moderator.  John  Wilson  at  New  Castle,  and  Samuel 
Davis  at  Lewes,  Delaware,  and  Jedediah  Andrews  at  Phil- 
adelphia. The  others,  John  Hampton,  an  Irishman;  Na- 
thaniel Taylor,  probably  an  Englishman,  and  George 
Macnish,  a  Scotchman.  At  this  time  Archibald  Stobo,  a 
Scotchman,  was  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Four  years  after  the  forma- 
tion of  the  presbytery  (1710)  Macnish  became  the  pas- 
tor of  a  Presbyterian  church  at  Jamaica,  Long  Island, 
which  put  itself  under  the  care  of  the  presbytery  of  Phil- 
adelphia— the  name  assumed  by  that  body.  Macnish  soon 
became  the  stalwart  leader  of  the  Puritans  and  Presby- 
terians in  the  Province  of  New  York,  and  by  his  Scotch 
pluck  and  perseverance  triumphed  over  those  who  wished 
to  trample  upon  the  rights  of  the  dissenters. 

Francis  Makemie  wrote  in  respect  to  the  presbytery: 
"Our  design  is  to  meet  yearly,  and  oftener  if  necessary, 
to  consult  the  most  proper  means  for  advancing  religion 
and  propagating  Christianity  in  our  various  stations." 
"The  American  Presbyterian  Church  began  historically 
at  the  bottom,  and  only  by  degrees  did  it  rise  into  the 
magnificent  system  which  we  now  behold.  It  was  not 
a  reconstruction  of  an  old  papal  system  into  a  new  Pres- 
byterian system,  as  in  Scotland.  It  was  a  free  and  nat- 
ural growth  in  accordance  with  the  preferences  of  the 
congregations  themselves.  American  Presbyterianism  was 
born  and  nurtured  and  reached  its  maturity  in  freedom. 
It  developed  naturally  in  acordance  with  the  circum- 
stances of  the  country.  ***!(■  ^^s  the  external 
struggle  against  injustice  and  tyranny,  and  the  internal 
struggle  with  narrowness,  intolerance  and  bigotry,  that 


94  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

made  Presbyterianism  in  America  the  champion  of  civil 
and  reHgious  liberty."     {Amer.  Pres.,  pp.  131,  28p.) 

The  First  Missionary  Society. — An  earnest  and  effect- 
ive effort  was  made  on  the  part  of  the  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists  in  London  and  the  vicinity  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  Protestant  churches  at  home 
and  abroad — meaning  the  American  colonies.  They 
formed  an  organization  in  1691,  July  i,  entitled  "Heads 
of  Department,"  in  order  to  facilitate  their  v^^ork;  they 
also  established  a  fund  by  liberal  contributions  for  two 
purposes:  one  to  aid  feeble  congregations,  the  other  to 
assist  in  training  ministers  to  supply  such  churches.  This 
is  the  first  effort  on  record  of  the  formation  of  a  gospel 
missionary  association  and  educational  society.  The 
movement  "was  designed  to  rally  the  Presbyterian  and 
Independent  churches  of  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies 
against  prelacy  and  popery."  The  latter  two  were  the 
inveterate  and  irrepressible  antagonists  of  the  doctrines 
and  preaching  of  the  ministers  of  the  former. 

Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. — 
The  establishment  of  the  association,  "Heads  of  Depart- 
ment," no  doubt  suggested  the  formation  of  the  "Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  and 
which  was  formed  and  chartered  in  London  ten  years 
later,  in  1701.  The  latter  was  instituted  in  accordance 
with  the  desire  and  plan  of  Dr.  Thomas  Bray,  who  after 
the  Church  of  England  was  by  law  established  in  Mary- 
land in  1692,  was  appointed  by  King  William  "Eccle- 
siastical Commissioner"  for  the  American  colonies.  He 
devoted  himself  with  untiring  energy  to  make  the  Church 
of  England  supersede  all  others  in  America.  This  new 
society  had  the  sanction  of  the  archbishops,  bishops  and 
members  of  the  nobility  and  leading  clergy  of  England, 
many  of  whom  became  corporate  members.  Dr.  Bray 
urged  that  the  society  should  send  no  less  than  forty 


THE  PRESBYTERY  OF  PHILADELPHIA  (1706).      95 

Protestant  missionaries  (churchmen)  to  the  American  col- 
onies. To  attain  the  supremacy  in  the  latter,  the  society 
had  the  advantage  of  abundant  funds,  while  its  hopes  of 
success  were  cherished  by  the  persecuting  principles  in- 
volved in  the  rule  of  the  English  bishops.  The  former 
liberal  spirit  of  the  government  of  Maryland,  now  van- 
ished. Meanwhile  the  respective  governors  became  the 
tools  of  the  illiberal  hierarchy  in  England.  Against  such 
odds  in  addition  to  the  opposition  of  the  civil  and  mili- 
tary authorities,  the  Presbyterians  as  well  as  other  dis- 
senters had  to  contend,  but  in  the  end  they  triumphed. 
The  exceptionally  bad  character  of  many  of  the  clergy- 
men sent  out  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  especially  to 
Virginia  and  Maryland,  neutralized  nearly  all  the  efforts 
of  Dr.  Bray  by  means  of  that  society  to  propagate  Epis- 
copacy. In  truth,  these  men  were  recommended  to  the 
good  Bishop  of  London  by  the  civil  authorities.  John 
Talbot,  an  English  churchman  and  chaplain  in  the  navy, 
and  who  traveled  in  the  colonies  for  two  years  in  the 
interests  of  the  society,  in  speaking  of  the  situation,  wrote : 
"We  want  a  great  many  good  ministers  (Church  of  Eng- 
land) here  in  Arrierica,  but  we  had  better  have  none  at 
all  than  such  scandalous  beasts  as  some  make  them- 
selves— not  only  the  worst  of  ministers,  but  of  men."  {See 
p.  i6p.)  Then  he  assigns  as  a  reason  that:  "Those  we 
have  to  deal  with  are  a  sharp  and  inquisitive  people ;  they 
are  not  satisfied  with  one  doctor's  opinion,  but  (we)  must 
have  something  that  is  authentic,  if  we  hope  to  prevail 
with  them."     {Gillet,  L,  p.  22.) 

Difficulties  and  Progress. — The  formation  of  the  pres- 
bytery appears  to  have  given  an  impulse  to  the  cause,  es- 
pecialy  in  the  middle  colonies.  Numerous  difficulties 
had,  however,  to  be  overcome,  the  principal  being  the 
want  of  ministers  and  the  means  to  support  them,  the 
church  members  were  but  ill-supplied  with  this  world's 


g6  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

goods,  though  they  were  benevolent  to  the  best  of  their 
abiHty.  In  contrast  with  this  was  "the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  It  was 
sending  so  many  Church  of  England  missionaries  that 
within  a  few  years  all  the  Episcopal  clergy  in  the  colonies 
north  of  Virginia  were  sent  out  by  that  society.  They 
were  supplied  with  abundant  funds;  were  encouraged  by 
the  home  government  and  the  influence  of  the  chaplains 
and  the  English  officers  of  the  army  and  the  navy  who 
were  on  duty  in  the  colonies.  It  was  made  a  special  point 
to  resist  New  England  influence,  giving  as  a  reason  why 
the  society  should  send  missionaries  lest  "Presbyterian 
ministers  from  New  England  would  swarm  into  these 
countries  (Middle  colonies)  and  prevent  the  increase  of 
the  church."    Thus  wrote  a  beneficiary  of  the  society. 

There  was  at  this  time  remarkable  harmony  and  char- 
ity among  the  ministers  and  the  Presbyterian-Puritan 
Church  members  in  respect  to  evangelical  doctrines.  They 
were  Calvinists  and  received  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion as  the  embodiment  of  gospel  truth.  There  were,  no 
doubt,  tacit  differences  of  opinion  in  respect  to  the  form 
of  church  government,  but  that  non-essential  dogma  was 
relegated  to  the  background.  Each  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter and  missionary  was  absorbed  in  preaching  the  gospel 
and  in  performing  his  pastoral  duties,  new  churches  were 
increasing  faster  than  they  could  be  supplied  with  preach- 
ers and  pastors.  In  order  to  obtain  the  latter  an  extensive 
correspondence  was  kept  up  with  the  Presbyterians  of 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  also  with  the  promi- 
nent ministers  of  New  England,  who  sympathized  deeply 
with  the  churches  in  the  Middle  colonies. 

Notwithstanding  these  many  difficulties  there  prevailed 
a  quiet  and  continuous  progress  in  the  influence  of  the 
gospel.  The  churches  increased  in  number,  but  were  sep- 
arated more  or  less  by  distance.    This  condition  made  it 


THE    PRESBYTERY    OF    PHILADELPHIA    (1706).  97 

somewhat  difficult  for  all  the  ministers  to  attend  the  reg- 
ular meetings  of  the  presbytery,  and  at  the  end  of  about 
ten  years  from  its  formation  it  was  deemed  wise  to  di- 
vide it  into  three,  that  of  Philadelphia,  the  original.  New 
Castle  and  Snow  Hill — afterward  absorbed  in  that  of  New 
Castle.  Some  time  afterward,  through  the  influence  of 
Macnish,  then  pastor  at  Jamaica,  and  the  recommendation 
of  presbytery,  the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island  was  con- 
stituted— afterward  named  New  York  (1738).  It  may  be 
remarked  in  this  connection  that  all  the  ministers  that 
served  these  churches  were  thoroughly  educated  men; 
they  were  graduates  of  either  Scotch  or  English  universi- 
ties, and  had  availed  themselves  of  the  best  theological 
training  of  the  times. 

The  Introduction  of  the  Eldership. — The  successive 
meetings  of  presbytery  led  to  the  recognition  of  the 
lack  of  representation  in  it  of  the  church  members.  In 
order  that  their  rights  might  be  represented  the  custom 
of  sending  an  elder  or  lay  commissioner  with  the  pastor 
was  introduced.  At  first  the  meeting  of  presbytery  was 
composed  of  ministers  alone,  and  they  consulted  in  relation 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  cause  of  Christ.  In  1710  for 
the  first  time  we  find  recorded  in  the  minutes  that  an 
elder  sat  in  the  presbytery  as  the  representative  of  his 
church  in  the  absence  of  the  pastor.  We  have  already 
noticed  that  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  church  mem- 
bers were  recognized  by  the  presbyteries  in  England.  Ex- 
perience taught  lessons,  and  in  1714,  as  it  had  hitherto 
been  only  advisory  in  its  disciplinary  action,  the  presby- 
tery took  measures  to  have  the  records  of  the  church  ses- 
sions presented  to  it  for  revision.  This  was  not  an  ab- 
solute demand,  but  was  put  in  the  form  of  a  request,  and 
the  design  was  to  preserve  order  and  keep  in  constant 
touch  with  the  churches.  Numbers  complied  with  the 
request,  but  others  declined.     The    lack    of    compliance 


98  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

with  this  judicious  request  was  owing,  very  probably, 
to  the  Congregational  proclivities  of  a  portion  of  the  church 
members,  who  were  in  favor  of  the  latter  form  of  church 
government.  With  them  the  oversight  proposed  by  the 
presbytery  may  have  been  looked  upon  as  infringing  the 
system  of  each  individual  church  being  independent  of 
every  other  one.  Those  churches  which  adopted  the  eld- 
ership designed  thereby  to  utilize  their  most  competent 
men  in  the  government  of  individual  churches  as  well  as 
to  be  their  representatives  in  the  judicial  uses  of  the 
church.  Presbytery  previous  to  this  time  had  not  exer- 
cised discipline  to  much  extent,  if  at  all,  beyond  being  ad- 
visory. They  could  pass  an  indirect  censure  only  on  a 
delinquent  by  striking  his  name  from  the  roll  of  mem- 
bers. Time  and  experience  afforded  the  necessity  of  its 
having  more  extensive  authority  in  the  line  of  discipline 
over  the  churches,  and  yet  in  compliance  with  the  Amer- 
ican idea  that  it  should  be  with  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned. 


XIII. 

Persecutions  and  Trials. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  history  of  the  many  perse- 
cutions and  trials  of  the  founders  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  Middle  colonies,  especially  in  New  York 
and  Virginia,  is  so  little  known  to  the  Presbyterian  gen- 
eral reader.  We  can  go  only  partially  into  detail  in  re- 
spect to  these  outrages,  yet  we  will  give  an  instance  or 
two  that  may  serve  as  specimens  of  the  spirit  that  in- 
spired the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  wherever  it 
acquired  power  by  being  established  in  any  of  the  colo- 
nies. In  the  motherland  the  Romanising  bishops  at  that 
time  were  the  powers  behind  the  throne  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  and  in  the  colonies  where  that  church  was  estab- 
lished they  indirectly  stimulated  the  civil  authorities  to 
acts  of  tyranny  toward  those  who  were  dissenters — a 
contemptuous  term  applied  about  this  time  to  those  who 
dissented  from  the  assumptions  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
'  land. 

A  Church  and  Parsonage  Seised. — In  the  town  of  Ja- 
maica, Long  Island,  years  before  the  Church  of  England 
was  established  in  the  colony,  the  mhabitants — Presby- 
terians— Puritans  for  the  most  part — voluntarily  sub- 
scribed the  funds  and  builded  a  church  and  a  parsonage. 
In  1702  there  were  in  the  village  of  Jamaica  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  families,  mostly  from  New  Eng- 
land. These  people  were  characterized  by  a  writer  of  the 
time  as  being  "exemplary  for  all  Christian  knowledge  and 
goodness."      They  had  a  pious  and  excellent  minister. 


lOO  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Mr.  John  Hubbard,  who,  with  his  congregation,  was  dis- 
possessed of  their  church  building  (1705),  This  outrage 
was  committed  by  order  of  the  Governor  of  the  colony, 
the  "infamous  Lord  Cornbury,"  who,  according  to  George 
Bancroft,  "joined  the  worst  form  of  arrogance  to  intellec- 
tual imbecility,"  Lord  Cornbury,  in  the  following  man- 
ner, placed  in  charge  of  this  church  building  John  Bar- 
tow, a  Church  of  England  missionary.  On  a  certain  Sab- 
bath Mr.  Hubbard  preached  in  the  forenoon,  but  before  he 
arrived  to  conduct  the  usual  services  of  the  afternoon 
Bartow  slipped  into  the  church,  and  with  a  few  to  re- 
spond, began  reading  the  litany.  Presently  Mr.  Hubbard 
came;  he  did  not  interfere,  but  retired  and  announced  to 
his  congregation  that  he  would  preach  under  a  tree  in  the 
neighboring  orchard,  which  he  did.  Meanwhile  Barton, 
having  finished  his  reading,  locked  the  door  of  the  church 
and  gave  the  key  to  the  sheriff.  The  owners  of  the 
church  applied  for  the  key,  but  the  sheriff  refused  to  give 
it  up.  For  this  high-handed  measure  of  demanding  the 
key,  and  asserting  their  rights  to  their  own  property, 
Mr.  Hubbard  and  the  chief  men  of  his  congregation  were 
summoned  before  Governor  Cornbury  in  New  York,  who 
upbraided  them,  and  forbade  Hubbard  preaching  in  the 
church. 

It  happened  that  during  this  year  an  epidemic  of  sick- 
ness prevailed  in  the  colony,  and  Cornbury  asked  Mr. 
Hubbard,  in  an  apparently  friendly  manner,  for  the  use 
of  the  parsonage  as  a  hospital,  as  it  was  accidentally  un- 
occupied. When  the  sickness  disappeared,  Cornbury  re- 
fused to  give  back  the  parsonage,  but  issued  a  warrant 
without  legal  authority  to  the  sheriff  to  dispossess  Mr. 
Hubbard,  and  to  give  it  to  the  Church  of  England  min- 
ister whom  the  Governor  had  put  in  charge ;  and  the  lat- 
ter, strange  to  say,  under  the  circumstances,  forthwith 
occupied  the  parsonage.     In  addition,  the  land  belonging 


PERSECUTIONS    AND    TRIALS.  lOI 

to  the  parsonage  was  also  seized  and  divided  into  lots 
and  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  established  church.  The 
case  of  Makemie  and  that  of  the  seizure  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  at  Jamaica,  L.  I.,  are  two  of  the  outrages 
committed  by  Cornbury — they  speak  for  themselves.  He 
has  been  recently  eulogized  in  a  church  history  on  the 
ground  that  "he  was  noted  for  his  ardent  churchmanship." 
Some  eight  years  afterward  (1710)  Rev.  George  Mac- 
nish  became  a  Presbyterian  pastor  in  Jamaica.  Lord 
Cornbury  had  disappeared,  and  another  Governor — Rob- 
ert Hunter — was  in  his  stead.  Macnish  entered  at  once 
upon  a  suit  in  the  civil  court  to  have  the  property  restored 
to  the  rightful  owners,  and  by  his  indefatigable  exertions 
and  Scotch  pluck,  he  succeeded,  in  1727,  but  only  after  a 
contest  lasting  a  number  of  years.  The  righteousness  of 
this  decision  was  recognized  by  all  except  the  Episcopal 
clergy,  with  the  renegade  Vesey — of  whom  more  pres- 
ently— at  their  head ;  the  latter  appealed  to  the  Bishop  of 
London. 

Bribery  and  Trickery. — A  similar  instance  of  such 
church  charity  occurred  in  New  York  itself.  Governor 
Fletcher  gave  permission  to  build  a  church  edifice  by  vol- 
untary contributions  among  the  people  at  large.  The 
funds  were  forthcoming,  and  the  building  was  finished. 
It  was  the  first  of  the  edifices  belonging  to  the  present 
Trinity  in  New  York  City,  thus  afterward  named.  At 
that  time  there  were  scarcely  any  churchmen  or  their  fam- 
ilies in  the  town,  except  the  officers  belonging  to  the  army 
or  the  civil  authorities,  and  the  officers  of  the  navy  when 
occasionally  in  the  harbor.  It  was  understood  and  con- 
ceded that  the  new  church  building  virtually  belonged  to 
the  Presbyterian- Puritans,  since  nearly  all  the  funds  were 
contributed  by  them.  In  accordance  with  this  view  the 
Governor  made  no  objection  to  the  wardens  or  vestrymen 
inviting  a  Presbyterian  minister  to  become  the  pastor. 


I02  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

They  called  the  Rev.  William  Vesey  of  Hempstead,  Long 
Island,  to  become  that  pastor  (1695).  Vesey  was  a  na- 
tive of  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
and  had  been  trained  under  the  supervision  of  Increase 
Mather,  with  whom  he  was  a  favorite.  Through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  latter,  Vesey  was  sent  to  "strengthen  the 
Puritans  in  New  York."  He  became,  therefore,  the  first 
pastor  of  this  new  church,  thus  erected  almost  entirely  by 
the  contributions  of  those  who  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
Church  of  England  in  its  mode  of  government  and  forms 
of  worship.  There  was  at  this  time  only  one  clergyman 
of  the  established  church  in  New  York — the  chaplain  in 
the  fort.  What  we  have  seen  Cornbury  secure  by  tyranny 
and  violence,  we  shall  see  Fletcher  attain  by  virtual  brib- 
ery and  trickery.  Let  an  address  to  the  then  Bishop  of 
London,  that  was  sent  a  few  years  afterward  (1714)  by 
Church  of  England  men  living  then  in  the  Province  of 
New  York,  tell  the  story.  It  says:  "He  [Increase 
Mather]  spared  no  pains  and  care  to  spread  the  warmest 
of  his  emissaries  [Presbyterian-Puritan  ministers] 
through  this  province,  but  Governor  Fletcher,  who  saw  in- 
to this  design,  took  ofif  Mr.  Vesey  by  an  invitation  to  this 
living  and  a  promise  to  advance  his  stipend  considerably, 
and  to  recommend  him  for  holy  orders  to  your  Lordship's 
predecessor,  all  of  which  was  performed  accordingly,  and 
Mr.  Vesey  returned  from  England  in  priest's  orders." — 
(Am.  Presbyterian,  p.  14/;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.  III.,  p.  438.) 
Vesey  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  London  Aug.  2, 
1697.  On  his  return  he  was,  by  an  arbitrary  order  of  the 
Governor,  installed  as  rector  of  Trinity  Church.  This 
church  building  was  owned,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  by 
the  Presbyterian  congregation,  who  as  such  had  called 
Vesey  to  become  their  pastor,  but  now  a  system  of  worship 
was  instituted  within  it  that  the  congregation  did  not  rec- 
ognize as  Scriptural.      The  Presbyterians  were  helpless; 


PERSECUTIONS    AND    TRIALS.  103 

this  was  the  only  church  in  the  town  where  reHgious  serv- 
ices were  held  in  the  EngHsh  language.  "Vesey  was 
maintained  by  a  tax  levied  on  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city." 

Soon  after  his  usurpation  Vesey  became  a  most  viru- 
lent and  unrelenting  foe  to  his  former  associates  and  eccle- 
siastical friends.  Under  his  leadership  Trinity  Church 
from  this  time  forward  took  the  front  rank  in  its  perse- 
cution of  the  dissenters,  in  every  available  form  of  petty 
annoyances  too  numerous  to  mention  in  this  narrative. 
It  has  been  urged  as  an  apology  that  Vesey  may  have 
been  influenced  by  the  views  of  the  moderate  Presby- 
terians of  England,  who  at  that  time,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  perhaps,  preferred  the  Episcopal  to  the  Congrega- 
tional mode  of  church  government,  and  in  accordance 
with  that  view  he  wished  to  combine  in  a  single  church 
organization  the  many  Presbyterians  with  the  compara- 
tively few  Episcopalians.  Had  this  been  his  motive,  he 
would  have  been  conciliatory  in  his  policy,  but  instead 
he  was  extremely  arrogant  and  hostile  toward  the  Pres- 
byterians and  the  other  dissenters,  his  former  friends  and 
patronizers. 

Rev.  James  Anderson,  the  first  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  New  York  City,  in  a  letter  dated  Dec. 
3,  1717,  says  in  relation  to  Vesey:  "One  (minister)  was 
called  from  New  England,  who,  after  he  had  preached 
some  time  here,  having  a  prospect  and  a  promise  of  more 
money  than  what  he  had  among  dissenters,  went  to  Old 
England,  took  orders  from  the  Bishop  of  London,  and 
came  back  here  as  minister  of  the  established  Church  of 
England.  Here  he  yet  is,  has  done,  and  still  is  doing 
what  he  can  to  ruin  the  dissenting  interest." — {Am.  Pres,, 
pp.,  LXXVII-VIIL    App.) 

Another  Illustration. — Afterward  the  Presbyterians 
erected,  about  1719,  a  church  in  Wall  Street,  then  as  now 


I04  A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

known  as  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  The  vestry  of 
Trinity  induced  the  civil  authorities  to  refuse  them  a  char- 
ter or  deed  for  the  lot  on  which  the  church  building  was 
to  stand.  In  consequence  of  this  intolerant  opposition, 
arrangements  were  made  by  which  the  charter  and  deed 
were  vested  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  and  the  latter,  when  the  persecuting  power  of 
the  established  church  was  annihilated  by  the  War 
of  Independence,  transferred  the  charter  and  the  deed  to 
their  legitimate  owner — the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  New  York  City. 

A  Law  Misapplied. — In  accordance  with  the  views  of 
the  times,  the  Assembly  of  the  Colony  of  New  York  in 
1693  passed  an  act  that  was  similar  in  character  to  pre- 
vious ones  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  the  gospel. 
"There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
Assembly  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  the  dissent- 
ing clergy.  Such  had  been  the  manifest  tendency  of  the 
previous  legislation  on  the  subject.  All  the  members  of 
the  Assembly,  but  one,  were  dissenters,  while  the  Church 
of  England  was  hardly  known  in  the  Province."  *  *  * 
"In  fact  it  [the  law]  was  arbitrarily  and  illegally  wrested 
from  its  true  bearing,  and  made  to  answer  the  purpose  of 
the  English  Church  party,  which  was  a  very  small  minor- 
ity of  the  people  who  were  affected  by  the  operation  of 
the  law."— (Z^r.  G.  H.  Moore,  Hist.  Mag.,  1867,  p.  328.) 
Says  an  authority :  "There  was  no  face  of  the  Church  of 
England  here  till  about  1693."  Some  years  later  another 
writer  stated  that  the  number  of  the  Church  of  England 
members  in  the  population  of  the  province  was  one  in 
seven.  The  dissenters  had  at  their  own  expense  erected, 
as  far  as  we  know,  every  church  edifice  in  the  province. 

The  obvious  intention  of  the  act  of  1693  was  wrested 
by  Governor  Fletcher,  whom  George  Bancroft  character- 
izes as  "a  covetous  and  passionate  man,"  to  apply  only  to 


PERSECUTIONS    AND     TRIALS.  1 05 

the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England.  To  enforce  this 
false  interpretation  against  the  Presbyterian- Puritan  con- 
gregations of  the  province,  the  Governor  often  seized  their 
church  buildings  and  placed  in  them  Episcopal  clergy, 
under  the  plea  that  the  latter  belonged  to  the  established 
church.  "It  was  under  this  act  [1693],  and  this  inter- 
pretation of  it,  that  Trinity  Church  was  established  in 
1697."  (Hist,  of  Episcopal  Church,  p.  166.)  The  strug- 
gle and  turmoil  lasted  for  many  years,  even  till  the  Revo- 
lution. We  have  given  these  historic  facts  as  examples 
of  the  persecuting  spirit  which  prevailed  in  that  church 
in  the  colony  of  New  York,  while  the  case  in  that  of  Vir- 
ginia was  even  more  outrageous. 

The  hostility  of  the  Church  of  England,  especially  to- 
ward the  Presbyterians,  as  manifested  by  the  civil  authori- 
ties, continued  long  after  their  intrusion  into  the  Trinity 
church  building.  This  animosity  does  not  appear  openly 
against  the  Dutch  Christians,  but  only  toward  the  En- 
glish-speaking people  who  were  dissenters.  The  Presby- 
terians, after  enduring  for  some  years  these  petty  tyran- 
nies, retired  from  Trinity  and  met  together  and  worshiped 
in  private  houses,  until  finally  they  erected  a  place  of 
worship  for  themselves  in  Wall  Street,  as  already  noted. 
This  inveterate  hostility  extended  so  far  that  traveling 
Presbyterian  ministers,  who  happened  to  pass  through 
the  Province  of  New  York,  were  liable  to  be  arrested  by 
the  civil  authorities  if  they  dared  to  preach  without  a  li- 
cense. The  triumphant  vindication  of  Makemie,  in  spite 
of  the  brutal  opposition  of  Governor  Cornbury,  had  not 
been  forgotten;  for  obvious  reasons  the  clergy  of  the 
established  church  feared  the  Presbyterian  ministers,  be- 
cause of  their  learning  and  their  love  for  and  promotion 
of  genuine  religious  liberty. 

The  ecclesiastics  of  the  home  church  desired  greatly  to 
appoint  bishops  on  American  soil,  but  that  project  was 
9 


Io6  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

frustrated  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  Congregationalists 
and  Presbyterians.  This  unrelenting  persecution  re- 
tarded the  progress  of  the  Presbyterians  in  those  colonies 
wherein  the  Church  of  England  was  established.  The 
fine  scholarship  and  Christian  zeal  of  their  ministers,  with 
the  co-operation  of  intelligent  and  pious  church  members, 
at  the  end  of  many  years  of  labor  and  toil  triumphed 
grandly. 


XIV. 
The  Formation  of  the  Synod. 

The  presbyteries  had  now  grown  to  four''from  one, 
and  had  extended  their  jurisdiction  over  the  churches 
scattered  along  the  Atlantic  coast  from  Eastern  Long 
Island  to  Vir§;inia.  It  was  thought  expedient  to  consti- 
tute a  synod,  in  order  to  unite  all  these  churches  and  pres- 
byteries in  closer  bonds  of  fellowship,  and  thus  promote 
the  cause  of  Christ  under  the  form  of  American  Presby- 
terianism.  The  synod  thus  constituted  was  named  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  composed  of  four  presbyteries — Phila- 
delphia, New  Castle,  Snowhill,  and  Long  Island,  after- 
ward New  York. 

Missionary  Funds. — Almost  the  first  act  of  the  newly 
created  synod  was  to  take  measures  to  establish  a  ''fund 
for  pious  uses"  (1717).  This  was  in  answer  to  the  cry 
for  ministers  that  was  coming  up  from  congregations  re- 
cently founded.  The  creation  of  this  fund  was  the  orig- 
inal of  all  the  schemes  to  supply  the  means  for  carrying 
on  the  home  missionary  enterprises  in  the  American  Pres- 
byterian Church  that  have  grown  to  such  large  propor- 
tions in  our  time,  and  are  pressing  on  to  still  greater  tri- 
umphs. This  fund  was  afterward  substantially  increased 
by  contributions  of  the  benevolent  in  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  in  Scotland  and  in  England.  Collections  were 
made  in  those  churches,  and  the  amount  secured  was.  In 
the  aggregate,  £3,652  los.  It  was  thought  expedient  to 
invest  a  portion  of  this  amount  in  merchandise  or  goods, 
which  were  brought  to  the  colonies  and  sold  at  a  good 


I08  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

profit.  In  the  same  line  the  kindly  disposed  merchants 
made  donations  in  goods.  It  is  stated  that  "The  mer- 
chants were  at  great  pains  and  did  great  service  in  the 
matter,  and  were  so  generous  as  to  transmit  the  goods  free 
of  freight"  (1719). 

Fraternal  Intercourse. — The  traditions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  are,  and  always  have  been,  in  favor  of  much 
and  genuine  fraternal  intercourse  among  its  members. 
One  of  the  means  which  it  has  used  in  accomplishing  this 
grand  result  is  in  having  frequent  meetings  of  its  church 
judicatures;  more  than  usual  in  number,  when  compared 
with  those  of  other  denominations.  The  meeting  to- 
gether so  often  has  had,  among  other  desirable  effects, 
that  of  eliciting  sympathy  between  the  members  of  the 
dift'erent  churches  in  the  various  sections  of  the  country, 
and  thus  promoting  a  Christianized  sentiment  of  brotherly 
love.  Accordingly,  as  the  number  of  the  churches  in- 
creased and  were  scattered  in  the  land,  new  presbyteries 
were  organized,  and  as  the  members  desired  still  more 
intercourse  with  one  another,  since  they  met  only  with 
brethren  of  their  respective  presbyteries,  they  formed  a 
synod  which  should  bear  a  similar  relationship  to  the 
presbyteries  as  that  of  the  latter  to  the  churches.  The 
synod  was  also  constituted  in  the  same  ratio  as  the  pres- 
bytery— each  minister  was  accompanied  by  an  elder  from 
the  church  or  churches  of  which  he  was  pastor;  in  this 
manner  were  the  rights  of  the  members  of  the  church  rec- 
ognized and  respected.  All  the  ministers  belonging  to 
the  synod  were  required  to  meet  in  session  once  in  each 
year.  This  mode  of  government  prevailed  for  about 
seventy  years ;  that  is,  from  1717  to  1788,  when  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  was  organized — the  latter  being  a  repre- 
sentative body,  but  drawing  its  delegates  not  from  the 
synods  but  directly  from  the  presbyteries,  they  being 
nearer  the  people  or  church  members. 


^^^^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^H_  #•' 

'-  ^^^M 

^^^K-** 

\      '                    v^'^^H 

\      t^'^SIuj^^^^l 

WLj 

"^^P^^ 

^^^^p^^.  "~^^^ 

ife|.^^?^5^5^^^|| 

Rev.  John  McMillan,   D.  D. 
(133,  233,  25S,  2S2,  324.) 


THE     FORMATION     OF     THE     SYNOD.  109 

For  a  number  of  years  after  the  formation  of  the  first 
synod,  the  increase  of  the  churches  was  great,  and  they 
were  much  extended  along  the  Atlantic  slope,  south  of 
Connecticut,  while  the  number  of  the  presbyteries  also 
mcreased  in  proportion.  It  was  found  that,  owing  to  the 
distances  and  difficulties  of  travel,  a  great  many  minis- 
ters and  elders  were  unable  to  attend  regularly  all  the 
meetings  of  the  synod.  To  obviate  this  inconvenience  it 
was  decided  (1724)  to  make  the  synod  a  sort  of  repre- 
sentative body — that  was  done  by  the  presbyteries  send- 
ing half  their  number  of  members  in  alternate  years.  It 
was  also  arranged  that  every  third  year  there  should  be 
a  full  attendance  of  all  the  members. 

The  Test  and  Schism  Acts. — After  the  formation  of  the 
synod  the  progress  of  the  church  was  much  more  rapid ; 
immbers  of  Presbyterians  migrated  to  the  colony  of  New 
Jersey  from  New  England  and  New  York,  and  with  them 
came  many  able  and  learned  men  from  the  British  Isles. 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  came  in  great  numbers  from 
the  north  of  Ireland;  it  is  estimated  in  all  more  than 
twenty  thousand  in  the  course  of  a  few  years.  By  what 
was  called  the  "Test  Act,"  Presbyterians  in  Ireland  were 
excluded  "from  all  public  offices,  honors  and  employ- 
ments." The  animating  spirit  of  these  intolerant  laws 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  "The  bishops  intro- 
duced clauses  into  their  leases  forbidding  the  erection  of 
meeting-houses  [for  Dissenters]  on  any  part  of  their  es- 
tates, and  induced  many  landlords  to  follow  their  exam- 
ple." Another  law,  evidently  the  outgrowth  of  the  same 
influence,  was  passed  in  1714,  which  was  called  the 
"Schism  Act,"  its  design  being  to  blot  out  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Ireland.  It  was  estimated  that  four- 
fifths  of  the  Protestant  inhabitants  of  the  province  of 
Ulster  at  that  time  were  Presbyterians.  This  did  not 
prevent  outrages  of  a  revolting  character  being  inflicted 


no  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

upon  them,  when  their  prominent  men  were  "summoned 
before  the  courts  on  the  charge  of  living  in  fornication 
with  their  own  wives,  because  they  had  not  been  married 
with  a  ring  by  an  Episcopal  rector."  {Church  Hist. 
Series,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  54.) 

Froude,  in  his  History  of  Ireland  {pp.  11,  131,  143) 
says  of  the  Presbyterians :  "Vexed  with  suits  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical courts,  forbidden  to  educate  their  children  in 
their  own  faith,  treated  as  dangerous  in  a  state  which  but 
for  them  would  have  had  no  existence,  the  most  earnest 
of  them  at  length  abandoned  the  unthankful  service.  If 
they  intended  to  live  as  freemen,  speaking  no  lies,  and 
professing  openly  the  creed  of  the  Reformation,  they  must 
seek  a  country  where  the  long  arm  of  prelacy  was  still  too 
short  to  reach  them.  But  for  Anglican  bishops  there 
would  have  been  no  Puritan  exiles." 

Under  these  circumstances  that  isle  lost  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  its  more  intelligent  citizens,  with  their  fam- 
ilies and  their  pastors.  Here  commenced  a  great  emigra- 
tion of  Protestants,  especially  from  the  northern  portion 
of  that  island,  to  America,  which  continued  for  forty 
years,  and  by  which  the  Presbyterian  Church,  especially 
in  the  Middle  colonies,  was  greatly  enlarged  and  strength- 
ened. 

The  leading  Irish  Presbyterians,  in  an  address  to  the 
new  Lord  Lieutenant,  Duke  of  Shrewsbury  (1713),  an- 
nounced that  they  had  thoughts  of  transplanting  them- 
selves into  America,  saying  "that  we  may  there  in  the 
wilderness  enjoy,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  that  ease  and 
quiet  of  our  consciences,  persons  and  families  which  is 
denied  us  in  our  native  country."     {Am.  Pres.,  p.  18 j.) 

William  Tennent. — Numbers  of  these  prominent  but 
virtually  exiled  ministers  came  to  New  England,  but  it 
appears  that  the  majority  of  them  sought  their  homes  in 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.     The  grandest  accession 


THE    FORMATION     OF    THE    SYNOD.  HI 

to  Presbyterianism  from  the  Episcopal  Church  was  when 
WilHam  Tennent  in  1716  came  from  that  church  in  Ire- 
land and  connected  himself  with  the  synod  of  Philadel- 
phia. He  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  of  English-Irish  de- 
scent, and  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh 
(1695).*  He  gave  his  reasons  in  full  to  the  synod  why 
he  made  the  change.  Tennent  settled  first  in  Westchester 
County,  New  York,  preaching  for  eight  years  "with  won- 
drous zeal  in  the  towns  of  the  county." 

The  First  Log  College. — At  this  period,  with  but  few 
exceptions  of  graduates  of  Yale  and  Harvard,  the  min- 
isters of  the  Presbyterian  Church  were  foreigners.  This 
fact  suggested  to  Tennent  the  importance  of  the  church 
training  for  its  service  some  of  the  native  youth.  About 
1727  Tennent  removed  from  Bedford,  New  York,  to 
Neshaminy,  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  and  there  he 
commenced  to  teach  young  men  the  classics  and  theology 
in  a  cabin  builded  of  logs  cut  from  the  primitive  forest — 
hence  the  name  Log  College,  and  which  has  become  fa- 
mous as  the  forerunner  of  a  number  of  Presbyterian  col- 
leges in  the  Union.  "Tennent  had  the  rare  gift  of  at- 
tracting to  himself  youth  of  worth  and  genius,  imbuing  v^ 
them  with  his  healthful  spirit,  and  sending  them  forth 
sound  in  the  faith,  blameless  in  life,  burning  with  zeal,  and 
unsurpassed  as  instructive,  impressive,  and  successful 
preachers."      {Webster,  p.  36^.) 

The  enterprise,  having  no  ecclesiastical  connection,  was 
entirely  private  in  its  character,  but  its  design  was  to  sup- 
ply the  wants  of  the  colonists  in  respect  to  a  biblically 
trained  ministery.  This  was  the  first  Presbyterian  theo- 
logical school  in  America,  These  young  men  found  in 
Mr.  Tennent  a  teacher  thoroughly  instructed  in  the  the- 
ological and  classical  studies  of  the  times,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, one  who  was  imbued  with  an  ardent  piety  that  found 
vent  in  preaching  a  gospel  drawn  directly  from  the  truths 


112  A     HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

of  the  word  of  God  itself.  This  mode  of  preaching  was 
followed  by  his  pupils,  and  was  adapted  to  the  spiritual 
wants  of  those  who  heard  them.  The  latter  were  well- 
to-do,  honest  and  industrious,  almost  every  head  of  a 
family  owning  his  farm  or  plot  of  ground  on  which  stood 
his  home.  These  young  ministers  were  taught  to  be  prac- 
tical; they  could  preach  from  a  well-arranged  pulpit,  in 
a  private  dwelling,  in  a  school-house,  or  under  the  shade 
of  the  trees.  This  school  furnished  the  best  education 
outside  of  Yale  and  Harvard,  in  New  England,  and  of 
William  and  Mary  in  Virginia.  Says  one  in  speaking  of 
Mr.  Tennent's  students:  "They  were  didactic,  exhort- 
ory,  plain,  impassioned,  often  vehement;  they  used  the 
strong  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures  as  facts  for  illustration 
or  weapons  to  subdue  the  heart;  they  were  fearless  of 
man  in  the  cause  of  God." 

Guarding  the  Faith. — During  the  first  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  British 
Isles  was  greatly  agitated  in  respect  to  diversities  of  opin- 
ion among  its  younger  ministers  on  certain  theological 
questions.  This  could  be  affirmed  especially  of  the 
churches  of  Scotland  and  Ireland;  notably  in  the  former 
was  the  case  of  Dr.  John  Simson,  professor  of  Divinity  in 
the  University  of  Glasgow,  who  had  been,  also,  the  the- 
ological instructor  of  numbers  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian 
ministry.  Professor  Simson  was  brought  to  trial  and 
charged  with  teaching  Socinianism  and  Arminianism. 
He  disclaimed  the  charge,  and  stated  that  "he  was  en- 
deavoring to  meet  the  semi-Arianism  of  the  time  by  bet- 
ter statements  of  the  orthodox  doctrines."  His  explana- 
tion appears  to  have  had  influence  in  his  trial,  for  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  sustained  him,  and  so  did  the  liberal  party 
in  the  church,  both  in  England  and  Ireland.  There  is  no 
doubt,  however,  that  numbers  of  the  students  under  his 


THE     FORMATION     OF    THE    SYNOD.  II3 

care  were  in  sympathy  with  the  doctrinal  views  which 
Professor  Simson  endeavored  to  refute. 

Meanwhile,  rumors  of  these  deviations  from  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  had  reached  the  Presbyterian  ministers 
in  the  Middle  colonies,  and  they,  certainly,  had  reasons  for 
their  anxiety  on  the  subject.  In  consequence  the  church 
was  much  agitated  during  a  portion  of  the  existence  of 
the  first  synod  (1717-1729).  The  occasion  of  this  ex- 
citement did  not  originate  within  the  synod  itself,  but 
abroad,  where  a  laxity  in  respect  to  evangelical  doctrines 
had  prevailed  to  a  large  extent  among  the  ministers  of  the 
Presbyterian  Churches  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.  Some 
of  these  held  "Arminian  and  Pelagian  errors,"  and  it  was 
known  that  a  number  of  ministers  holding  these  views  had 
already  migrated  to  the  colonies,  and  others  were  about 
to  follow ;  the  latter  in  all  probability  would  wish  to  unite 
in  this  country  with  the  same  church.  It  therefore  be- 
came a  question  as  to  the  most  efficient  mode  of  guarding 
against  the  intrusion  into  the  churches  of  ministers  hold- 
ing these  objectionable  views.  After  the  subject  had 
been  under  discussion  in  various  forms  for  some  years — 
because  at  first  the  members  were  far  from  being  unani- 
mous as  to  the  best  means  of  warding  off  the  impending 
evil — the  synod  finally  united  upon  a  plan,  which  was  as  , 
follows:  "We  do,  therefore,  agree  that  all  the  ministers  ] 
of  this  synod,  or  that  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  into  this  ' 
synod,  shall  declare  their  agreement  in,  and  approbation 
of,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  \ 
as  being  in  all  the  essential  and  necessary  articles  good  * 
forms  of  sound  words  and  systems  of  Christian  doctrine, 
and  do  also  adopt  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  as 
the  Confession  of  our  Faith."  (Gillett,  vol.  i.,  p.  55.) 
This  was  the  "Adopting  Act"  of  1729.     The  presbyteries 


114  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

were  also  enjoined  to  require  their  licentiates  to  subscribe 
the  same  Confession,  etc. 

The  Effects  of  the  Adopting  Act. — This  Adopting  Act 
was  far-reaching  and  conciliatory  in  its  influence.  It  was 
a  compromise  between  the  parties  which  demanded  a  sort 
of  cast-iron  subscription  to  every  word  or  form  of  ex- 
pression in  the  Confession  of  Faith  instead  of  the  liberal 
view  as  expressed  in  the  phrase,  ^'the  essential  and  neces- 
sary articles."  The  latter  has  been  characterized  as  the 
pivot  of  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States. 

*'By  the  Adopting  Act  American  Presbyterianism 
steered  safely  through  the  troubled  waters  that  split  the 
Irish  and  English  Presbyterians  into  two  irreconcilable 
parties.  *  *  *  j^  -yya^s  designed  to  adapt  the  best  Pres- 
byterian models  to  American  soil,  and  not  strive  to  force 
Scotch,  Irish,  Welsh,  or  English  types  of  Presbyterian- 
ism upon  the  country."      {Am.  Pres  ,  p.  221.) 

"By  these  cautious  enactments" — The  Adopting  Act, 
etc. — "American  Presbyterianism  was  saved  from  the 
danger  of  lapsing  into  Congregationalism,  and  at  the  same 
time  secured  a  flexibility  of  development  very  necessary 
in  a  new  country,  without  sacrificing  its  historic  connec- 
tion with  the  Presbyterianism  of  Britain."  {Presbyterian 
Churches — Their  Power  in  Modern  Christendom.  By 
Dr.  J.  N.  Ogilvie,  p.  104.    Edition  of  i8g6.) 

Liberal  and  Strict  Subscription. — It  was  very  unfor- 
tunate for  the  peace  and  the  spiritual  advancement  of  the 
church  that  the  Adopting  Act  was  not  cordially  acquiesced 
in  at  once  by  all  parties.  Within  a  few  years  after  the 
Act  (1729)  became  a  rule  in  the  church,  certain  members 
of  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle  virtually  disregarded  the 
liberal  principles  of  that  act  in  its  requiring  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  to  be  received  by  ministers  and  candidates 
for  the  ministry,  "as  being  in  all  the  essential  and  neces- 


THE    FORMATION     OF    THE    SYNOD,  II5 

sary  articles  good  forms  of  sound  works  and  systems  of 
Christian  doctrine."  Instead  of  this  judicious  view  of 
the  subject,  the  Presbyteries  of  New  Castle  and  Done- 
gal— an  offshoot  of  the  latter — introduced'  an  irritating 
rule  or  order,  by  requiring  of  their  members  and  candi- 
dates in  respect  to  the  Confession,  "a  strict  interpretation 
and  verbal  subscription."  That  is,  every  phrase  or  ex- 
pression in  the  Confession  must  be  adopted  word  for 
word.  This  requisition  virtually  demanded  for  a  human 
and  fallible  compilation  of  religious  doctrine  the  same  al- 
legiance that  ought  to  be  given  to  the  inspired  word  of 
God. 

The  prime  mover  and  persistent  advocate  of  this  meas- 
ure was  Rev.  John  Thomson,  a  Scotchman,  who  is  charac- 
terized as  "a  narrow  and  opinionated  man,  who  became  the 
father  of  discord  and  mischief  in  the  American  Presby- 
terian Church."  Through  his  influence  his  presbytery 
acted  in  "defiance  of  Presbyterian  law  and  practice." 
Against  this  "strict  subscription"  Jonathan  Dickinson 
protested  that  "it  might  shut  the  door  of  the  church  com- 
munion against  many  serious  and  excellent  servants  of 
Christ  who  conscientiously  scruple  it,  yet  it  is  never  like 
to  detect  hypocrites  nor  keep  concealed  heretics  out  of  the 
church."  Such,  indeed,  had  recently  been  the  experi- 
ence of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia.  The  latter  had  re- 
ceived Rev.  Samuel  Hemphill,  who  came  with  credentials 
from  a  presbytery  in  Ireland,  and  who  had  in  the  presence 
of  the  synod  subscribed  to  the  Westminster  Confession, 
and  that  without  scruple.  Yet  he  was  found  to  be  un- 
sound in  his  belief  and  unprincipled  in  action,  a  preacher 
of  other  men's  sermons — in  fine,  a  heretic  and  a  hypocrite. 
For  a  time  he  completely  deceived  the  synod ;  at  length  he 
was  brought  to  trial  and  dismissed  the  ministry. 

The  agitation  in  respect  to  "strict  subscription" — 
though  the  principles  of  the  Adopting  Act  finally  pre- 


Il6  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

vailed' — disturbed  the  harmony  of  the  church  for  many 
years  and  retarded  very  much  its  spiritual  progress. 
This  is  not  the  only  instance  in  the  history  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  wherein  a  few  "opinionated"  men,  who 
were  confident  they  zvere  right,  when  their  peers  thought 
differently,  have  injured  the  cause  of  religion. 

"Strict  subscription"  became,  also,  a  question  among 
the  Presbyterian  ministers  and  elders  in  South  Carolina. 
One  portion,  while  strongly  in  favor  of  the  right  of  pn- 
vate  judgment,  was  equally  as  strenuous  in  not  imposing 
their  own  interpretations  upon  their  brethren;  to  do 
which,  they  deemed  a  wrong.  The  other  portion  were 
deeply  and  justly  alarmed  at  the  rumors  concerning  the 
progress  that  certain  errors  were  making  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Presbyterian  ministers  in  the  British  Isles.  No  doubt  many 
of  these  errorists  would  come  to  the  colonies  and  the  min- 
isters of  foreign  birth,  especially,  were  in  favor  of  guard- 
ing the  truth  by  requiring  '"^strict  subscription"  to  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith.  The  outcome  of  the  agitation  was  a 
division ;  the  ministers  from  New  England  separated  and 
labored  apart  from  those  from  Scotland  and  Ireland.  In 
time  the  various  apprehensions  were  removed  and  har- 
mony prevailed  once  more. 

Presbyterians  in  Maine. — About  171 5  or  'i6  Rev.  James 
MacGregorie  migrated  from  Ireland,  and  with  his  flock 
settled  at  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire,  while  another 
Presbyterian  company  afterward  formed  a  settlement  on 
Casco  Bay,  Maine.  These  Presbyterians  became  so  nu- 
merous that  in  1729  the  Presbytery  of  Londonderry  was 
constituted.  The  Rev.  Le  Mercier,  the  pastor  of  the  Hu- 
guenot Church  in  Boston,  connected  himself  with  this 
presbytery.  In  1730  Samuel  Rutherford  arrived  with  his 
flock  from  Ireland,  which  also  found  homes  in  Maine.  To 
these  Presbyterian  colonists,  others  were  joined  in  the 
course  of  years.     All  these  ministers  appear  to  have  been 


THE     FORMATION     OF    THE    SYNOD.  II7 

true  adherents  of  the  Westminster  Confession  and  Cate- 
chisms. 

The  Transfer  of  the  Log  College. — The  young  minis- 
ters from  the  Log  College  continued  to  be  zealous  in  their 
missionary  labors,  and  were  rewarded  by  a  remarkable 
and  extensive  revival,  whose  influence  was  felt  for  a 
number  of  years.  The  institution  was  thus  of  immense 
service  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  training  a  large  number 
of  godly  and  efficient  ministers,  though  it  did  not  fill  all 
the  requirements  that  were  involved  in  a  college  fully 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  William  Tennent,  Sr.,  died  in  1746,  and  left  no 
one  competent  to  take  his  place.  This  was  made  the  oc- 
casion of  transforming  the  primitive  Log  College  into  a 
more  extensive  and  imposing  institution  of  learning. 
Through  the  efforts  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson,  a  charter 
(1747)  was  obtained  for  a  college  from  Governor  Hamil- 
ton of  New  Jersey.  Trustees  were  elected,  and  Dickin- 
son was  chosen  President.  The  Log  College  in  spirit  was 
transferred  from  Neshaminy  to  the  President's  house  in 
Elizabethtown.  It  was  a  great  loss  to  the  college  that 
Dickinson  died  in  the  first  year  of  his  presidency.  "No 
better  man  could  have  been  found  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
Presbyterian  higher  education  in  America.  He  was  head 
and  shoulders  above  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  in  intel- 
lectual and  moral  endowments — the  recognized  leader  in 
all  the  crises  of  the  church."  {Am.  Pres.,  p.  306.)  He 
was  a  native  of  Massachusetts  and  a  graduate  of  Yale 
(1706)  College.  Three  years  later  he  became  pastor  at 
Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  and  by  his  commanding  tal- 
ents and  conservative  spirit  he  became  the  great  repre- 
sentative of  American  Presbyterianism  of  the  Colonial 
period,  the  symbol  of  all  that  was  noble  and  generous  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church."  In  the  midst  of  the  doctrinal 
discussions  that  arose  within  the  church  he  wrote  numer- 


Il8  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ous  pamphlets  and  published  sermons.  His  "Five  Points 
of  Calvinism"  had  great  influence  at  the  time.  The  con- 
tents of  the  essay  were :  Eternal  Election,  Original  Sin, 
Grace  in  Conversion,  Justification  by  Faith,  Saints'  Perse- 
verance. 

The  Rev.  Aaron  Burr  was  chosen  to  succeed  Dickin- 
son, and  the  following  year  the  college,  under  a  new  char- 
ter from  Governor  Belcher — an  ardent  friend  of  the  in- 
stitution— was  removed  to  Newark.  This  college  was 
designed  to  be  pre-eminently  a  center  of  education  for  the 
Middle  colonies.  The  design  was  to  establish  a  college 
where  "Those  of  every  religious  denomination  may 
have  free  and  equal  liberty  and  advantage  of  education, 
any  different  sentiments  in  religion  notwithstanding." 
The  treatment  which  the  sainted  David  Brainerd  received 
from  the  faculty  of  Yale,  and,  in  addition,  the  latter's  un- 
concealed hostility  to  the  revival  of  religion  under  Jona- 
than Edwards  and  his  compeers,  justly  alienated  the  once 
good  will  of  the  revivalists  among  the  ministers  of  the 
New  Side. 

Princeton  College. — The  infant  college  now  appealed 
for  aid  to  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland,  England  and  Ire- 
land. For  this  purpose  the  Synod  of  New  York  sent  as 
their  agents  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  and  Gilbert  Tennent. 
They  secured  more  than  four  thousand  pounds.  Thus 
"the  Presbyterians  of  Great  Britain  showed  their  sympa- 
thy with  the  broad  and  tolerant  Presbyterians  of  the  synod 
of  New  York,  rather  than  the  narrow  and  intolerant  Pres- 
byterians of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia.  *  *  *  'y\\q 
mother  of  American  Presbyterian  colleges  was  planted  on 
the  basis  of  the  pledges  of  Samuel  Davies  and  Gilbert 
Tennent  as  to  the  terms  of  subscription  in  accordance  with 
the  original  Adopting  Act  (1729).  The  college  was 
therefore  pledged  and  consecrated  to  a  broad,  generous 
and  liberal  Presbyterianism."      {Am.  Pres.,  p.  309.) 


THE     FORMATION     OF    THE    SYNOD.  II9 

The  institution,  under  the  name  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  was  removed  to  Princeton  in  1755.  The  citizens 
of  the  town,  having  "given  200  acres  of  woodland  and 
ten  acres  of  cleared  land."  A  college  building — named 
Nassau  Hall — the  gift  of  other  benefactors — was  erected, 
and  which  for  some  years  was  the  largest  college  struc- 
ture in  the  United  States.  The  first  class,  numbering  six, 
was  graduated  in  1755.  Princeton  claims  that  tzventy-Uve 
colleges  in  the  Union  indirectly  owe  their  existence  to  the 
exertions  of  her  graduates. 

The  Educational  Fund. — About  this  time  a  fund  of 
£357  4s.  6d.  was  given  to  aid  young  men  in  the  College  of 
New  Jersey  who  were  studying  for  the  ministry.  This 
fund  became  the  nucleus  of  what  has  since  grown  to  be 
the  great  system  of  scholarships  now  existing  m  Presby- 
terian colleges  and  theological  seminaries.  Associations 
of  this  kind  and  the  contributions  they  give  to  the  object 
clearly  evidence  the  interest  that  Presbyterian  Church 
members — male  and  female — have  in  an  educated  minis- 
try for  their  church. 

Princeton  College  never  received  aid  from  the  State; 
it  has  always  been  supported  by  the  contributions  of 
Christian  liberality. 

The  Leading  Points  of  Influence. — We  cannot  in  this 
concise  history  go  into  detail  as  to  the  names  of  the  many 
ministers  who  came  from  Scotland,  Ireland  and  England, 
nor  locate  the  numerous  churches  and  congregations 
which  they  served.  We  give  the  leading  points  of  in- 
fluence, in  order  that  the  reader  may  have  a  conception  of 
the  great  religious  movement  in  the  middle  colonies  that 
was  attended  with  such  grand  results.  All  these  minis- 
ters from  abroad  were  educated  me.i  and  impressed  their 
influence  upon  the  communities  wherein  they  labored. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the  theologians  of  that 
day  confined  themselves  almost  exclusively  to  the  study 


I20  A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

of  the  Bible  in  the  original  tongues,  as  well  as  in  the  Eng- 
lish version.  We  recognize  as  correct  their  clear  inter- 
pretation of  that  sacred  book  in  all  that  pertains  to  the 
way  of  salvation.  They  received  very  little  aid  from  the 
commentaries  of  men  specially  learned  in  the  exposition 
of  tli€  sacred  volume,  which  in  our  day  has  thrown  on 
the  subject  so  much  light,  and  which  has  been  derived 
from  so  many  and  diverse  sources.  They  studied  the 
book  itself,  collating  passage  with  passage,  thus  making 
the  inspired  word  its  own  interpreter  on  the  great  themes 
of  Christian  belief.  Their  scholarship,  in  consequence, 
was  not  broad  and  diverse,  as  that  of  the  theologians  of 
our  day  while  the  people  to  whom  they  preached  were 
on  a  corresponding  low  plane  of  general  intelligence: — 
thus  the  preachers  and  people  were  suited  to  one  another. 
These  theolcgians,  as  a  rule,  were  well  versed  in  sacred 
knowledge  derived  from  the  Bible  itself,  and  in  the  Latin 
and  Greek  classics — ^but  of  science  how  little  they  knew ! 
The  sciences  were  then  in  their  infancy — and  the  most  ad- 
vanced classes  in  the  colleges  were  far  inferior  in  scien- 
tific scholarship  to  the  young  men  and  women  of  to-day 
in  our  high  schools  and  academies. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
Origin  of  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia 

In  our  narrative,  though  somewhat  out  of  the  order 
of  time,  we  will  now  tell  the  story  of  the  origin  of 
Presbyterianism  in  Hanover  County,  Virginia.  In  a 
rural  district  in  that  county  some  fifty  or  sixty  miles 
from  Williamsburg,  then  the  seat  of  government  of  the 
colony,  originated  a  movement  that  resulted  in  estab- 
lishing Presbyterianism  independently  of  outside  influ- 
ence. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  isolated  neighborhood  were 
of  English  ancestry,  and  no  doubt  had  an  idea  of 
"Englishmen's  rights."  "They  were  of  true  English 
descent,  and  in  connection  with  the  established 
church.  .  .  .  None  of  the  Scotch-Irish  had  emigrated 
to  Hanover,  and  these  people  were  descended  from 
members  of  the  English  Church  "  (Foote's  "  Sketches 
of  Virginia,"  pp.  120,  123).  "Traces  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  were  found  in  Virginia  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century."  Five  counties  are  named  in 
which  these  traces  were  found,  but  Hanover  is  not  thus 
mentioned.  "  The  first  migration  from  Ulster  (Ireland) 
to  Pennsylvania  was  from  1717  to  1750."  "The  great 
migration  of  Scotch- Irish  landed  at  New  Castle  and 
made  their  way  northward  or  westward  "  ('"  The  Scotch- 
Irish,"  vol.  i.,  p.  119;  vol.  ii.,  p.  179). 

The  colonists  in  Hanover  County  were  ministered  to 
by  the  clergy  of  the  established  church;  its  incum- 
bents, with  few  exceptions,  were  not  of  a  high  order 
10 


122  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

of  scholarship  or  of  piety  {see  pp.  168-169).  Four 
gentlemen,  heads  of  families,  of  the  more  intelligent 
among  the  people  became  dissatisfied  with  what  was 
preached  by  the  incumbent  of  their  parish  church. 
This  movement  is  supposed  to  have  commenced  about 
1720,  and  though  unknown  to  the  outside  world  it  con- 
tinued for  many  years,  a  Mr.  Samuel  Morris  becoming 
almost  unconsciously  the  leader  in  the  cause.  These 
parishioners  believed  that  their  incumbent  did  not 
preach  the  Gospel  according  to  the  principles  laid  down 
in  their  Bibles,  and  they  thought  it  more  edifying  for 
them  not  to  attend  the  parish  church  on  the  Sabbath, 
but  remain  at  home  and  read  the  Scriptures  and  other 
religious  books  with  their  families.  In  this  matter 
they  were  conscientious ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  they 
did  not  act  in  concert,  though  each  individual  had  come 
to  the  same  conclusion  as  to  his  duty  under  the  circum- 
stances. They  only  learned  the  views  of  one  another 
when  they  were  arraigned  before  the  civil  magistrate 
and  fined  for  not  attending  the  parish  church.  After 
they  had  learned  the  opinions  of  one  another,  they  held 
a  conference  and  agreed,  instead  of  going  to  the  parish 
church,  to  meet  alternately  at  each  other's  houses,  and 
with  their  families  spend  the  iisual  time  of  the  church 
service  in  reading  the  Scriptures  and  in  prayer.  One 
of  the  party  had  Martin  Luther's  commentary  on  the 
epistle  to  the  Galatians ;  this  they  read  also.  Another 
gentleman  had  met  with  a  few  leaves  of  "  Boston's 
Fourfold  State,"  and  being  struck  by  the  sentiments 
therein  expressed,  sent  to  England  for  the  book. 
This  was  also  read.  To  these  books  was  added  a  copy 
of  George  Whitefield's  sermons.  They  had  heard  of 
his  preaching  in  Williamsburg. 

Morris'   Reading-House. — The    work    went    on   for 
years,  and  the  meetings  soon  became  crowded,  because 


ORIGIN    OF     PRESBYTERIANISM     IN    VIRGINIA.  1 23 

of  the  interest  taken  by  the  people  in  the  subject,  since 
they  found  the  doctrines  in  the  books  that  were  read  to 
be  in  accordance  with  the  Scriptures,  the  spirit  of  the 
Gospel  and  the  experience  of  Christians,  The  multi- 
tudes, and  often  from  quite  a  distance,  attending  their 
meetings  became  so  great  that  no  private  house  could 
contain  them,  and  necessity  demanded  the  building  of 
a  "meeting-house,"  This  was  known  as  Morris' 
Reading-House;  the  same  name  was  applied  to  the 
others  afterward  erected.  These  people  had  virtually 
separated  from  the  establishment.  It  was  in  every 
sense  a  spontaneous  movement,  which  had  its  origin  in 
the  plain  inconsistency  with  Bible  truths  and  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Gospel,  of  the  lives  and  characters  and 
the  preaching  of  the  clergy,  who  were  the  incumbents 
in  the  various  parishes. 

They  did  not  assume  a  name;  they  organized  no 
church;  no  dissenting  minister  had  visited  them;  of 
such  they  appear  to  have  had  no  special  knowledge. 
They  were  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  colony,  and 
must  have  arrived  at  their  opinions  on  religious  truths 
from  simply  reading  the  word  of  God  and  books  that 
explained  that  word. 

Persecutions  and  Annoyances. — Meantime  they  were 
continually  harassed  by  the  colonial  authorities,  who 
as  usual  were  instigated  by  the  clergy.  The  latter 
were  greatly  scandalized  that  a  rebuke  to  their  way  of 
preaching  and  manner  of  living  should  spring  up  spon- 
taneously among  their  own  parishioners,  and  they  and 
illiberal  laymen  in  the  vestries  determined  to  put  down 
the  movement  by  a  series  of  persecutions  and  petty 
annoyances.  But  those  poor  Bible  readers  were  loyal 
to  their  government  and  to  their  own  consciences, 
and  they  promptly  paid  from  week  to  week  the 
fines  imposed  upon  them  for  not  attending  the   par- 


124         A     HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ish  church  and  quietly  went  on  with  their  reading 
and  praying. 

Their  being  called  upon  so  often  to  explain  to  the 
magistrates  of  the  county  why  they  did  not  attend  the 
parish  church,  and  in  consequence  were  fined,  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  governor  and  council  at  Williams- 
burg. The  latter  had  the  supreme  control  of  the  rela- 
tions between  the  dissenters  and  the  established 
church.  The  prominent  leaders  in  this  innovation 
were  therefore  required  to  appear  before  the  governor 
and  Council  and  defend  themselves  in  respect  to  the 
charges  that  were  preferred  against  them  by  the  clergy 
and  the  civil  authorities  of  the  county,  and  also,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Toleration  Act,  to  state  by  what 
name  they  were  to  be  designated.  In  respect  to  the 
latter  requirement,  they  were  very  much  at  a  loss  what 
to  do.  They  knew  of  the  Quakers,  but  had  not  suffi- 
cient sympathy  with  them  to  take  their  name ;  they  had 
learned  of  Luther  from  his  commentary,  and  they 
thought  they  might  be  Lutherans — of  Presbyterians 
they  had  not  even  heard. 

The  Name  Presbyterian. — Those  who  were  summoned 
— as  noted  above — set  out  from  their  homes  to  meet  on 
a  certain  day  the  governor  and  council  and  defend 
themselves  as  best  they  could.  On  the  way  one  of  the 
number  lodged  for  the  night  at  a  farmhouse,  and  was 
detained  there  the  following  day  because  of  a  severe 
rain-storm.  He  took  from  a  shelf  a  book  that  appeared 
to  have  been  little  used,  as  it  was  covered  with  dust. 
He  commenced  to  read,  and  to  his  astonishment  found 
therein  his  views  of  the  Gospel  better  expressed  than 
he  could  himself,  and  in  addition  there  were  the  texts 
of  Scripture  on  which  these  truths  were  based.  He 
had  never  before  seen  or  heard  of  that  book,  and  he 
wished  to  purchase  it,  but  the  owner  presented  it  to 


ORIGIN     OF     PRESBYTERIANISM     IN    VIRGINIA.  1 25 

him.  "When  the  delegation  met  in  Williamsburg,  they 
conferred  together  over  the  book,  and  all  agreed  that 
it  expressed  their  religious  views.  When  they  came 
before  the  lieutenant-governor.  Sir  William  Gooch, 
he  made  inquiry  as  to  their  religious  views,  and  also  as 
to  the  name  of  their  sect.  Handing  him  the  book,  they 
made  answer  that  it  contained  their  religious  views. 
The  governor  examined  it,  and  being  a  Scotchman  by 
descent,  he  at  once  recognized  it  as  the  Confession  of 
Faith  of  the  Presb5^terian  Church  of  Scotland,  and  he 
exclaimed  "Why,  you  are  Presbyterians!"  They 
accepted  the  name.  The  governor  appears  to  have 
been  much  impressed  by  the  earnestness  and  candor  of 
the  men,  and  he  "  dismissed  them  with  a  gentle  caution 
not  to  excite  any  disturbance  in  his  majesty's  colony, 
nor  by  irregularities  disturb  the  good  order  of  society 
in  their  parish." 

Further  Annoyances. — They  were  not,  however,  per- 
mitted to  pursue  their  way  unmolested,  as  some  time 
afterward  accusations  of  disorderly  conduct  were 
brought  against  Mr.  Morris  and  some  of  his  friends  in 
Hanover  County,  inasmuch  as  they  did  not  attend  the 
parish  church,  though  they  regularly  paid  the  fines  im- 
posed upon  them.  This  fact  by  no  means  conciliated 
the  clergy  and  the  illiberal  churchmen,  who  wished  to 
inflict  a  severer  punishment.  The  charges  were  so 
pressed  by  these  parties  that  they  induced  the  king's 
attorney  to  have  the  persons  thus  accused  indicted  by 
the  grand  jury.  In  consequence,  the  latter  were  forced 
at  great  expense  of  time  and  money  to  attend  the  civil 
court  at  Williamsburg,  some  forty  or  sixty  miles  dis- 
tant. After  much  delay  and  inconvenience  to  the  ac- 
cused the  charges  were  proved  to  be  utterly  false,  and 
the  men  were  acquitted  by  the  jury.  They  were,  not- 
withstanding this  fact,  most  imjustly  compelled  by  the 


126         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

court  to  pay  the  costs  of  the  prosecution,  as  was  the 
case  in  the  trial  of  Rev.  Francis  Makemie  in  New  York 
(A  S6). 

In  about  a  half-century  later  we  find  the  Presbyteri- 
ans of  Hanover  County  looming  in  a  remarkable  man- 
ner as  intelligent  and  stanch  advocates  for  civil  and 
religious  liberty. 


XVI. 

The  Log  Colleges. 

There  is  no  characteristic  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
more  pronounced  than  its  uniform  and  ardent  zeal  in  be- 
half of  an  educated  ministry.  We  therefore  tRink  it 
proper,  though  anticipating  a  few  events,  to  devote  one 
chapter  to  its  earlier  efforts  in  that  direction — see,  also, 
page  III  for  an  account  of  the  first  Log  College.  The 
above  fact  has  always  been  recognized  by  the  church 
members  and  their  pastors,  while  the  former,  by  the  faith- 
ful labors  of  the  latter,  have  been  placed  on  so  high  a 
plane  of  Scriptural  knowledge  that  they  demand  preach- 
ers who  are  competent  to  teach.  Pious  Presbyterian  par- 
ents during  successive  generations  have  been  familiar  with 
the  contents  of  the  Bible  itself,  and  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession and  the  Catechism  and  the  proof-texts  on  which 
the  doctrines  contained  therein  are  based.  In  these 
truths,  with  the  aid  of  their  pastors,  they  trained  their 
children;  meanwhile  carefully  observing  and  sanctifying 
the  Sabbath.  In  this  manner  a  knowledge  of  the  essential 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  system  had  become  interwoven 
with  the  religious  consciousness  of  their  children,  who  in 
turn  taught  their  own,  and  thus  the  work  went  on.  This 
mode  of  instructing  the  youth  of  Christian  parents  was  a 
custom  among  the  Puritans,  whether  Congregationalist  or 
Presbyterian.  Church  members  thus  trained  are  quick  to 
discern  in  a  preacher  his  spirituality  and  his  adherence 
to  the  sacred  truths  with  which  they  themselves  are 
familiar. 


£28  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

The  Bible  Studied  as  a  Whole. — One  effective  stimu- 
lant to  the  acquisition  of  biblical  knowledge  is  found  in 
taking  the  Bible  in  all  its  parts,  since  this  mode  of  in- 
struction gives  clearer  views  of  the  symmetry  of  the 
truths  of  the  word  of  God  than  can  possibly  be  obtained 
by  studying  the  Scriptures  in  isolated  portions  for  cer- 
tain days  in  the  year,  as  in  prayer-books  or  litanies.  The 
latter  mode  must  have  a  cramping  effect  upon  the  progress 
of  religious  and  biblical  knowledge  among  the  private 
members  of  the  church. 

The  Two  Academies. — The  Presbytery  of  Hanover, 
amid  its  conflict  in  relation  to  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State  in  Virginia,  recognized  the  necessity  of  founding 
schools  to  educate  young  men  for  the  ministry.  The 
College  of  William  and  Mary  at  Williamsburg  was  under 
the  control  of  the  established  church.  That  of  itself  was 
an  objection,  but  a  still  greater  one  was  in  the  prevalence 
in  the  college  of  deistical  influences.  Two  academies 
were  projected  by  the  presbytery;  one  was  located  in 
Prince  Edward  County,  the  other  in  the  valley.  The  for- 
mer became  Hampden-Sidney  College. 

Over  Hampden-Sidney  College  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope 
Smith  presided  for  a  number  of  years,  till  called  (1798) 
to  the  higher  position  as  President  of  Princeton.  He  was 
one  of  the  remarkable  men  of  the  period.  A  Pennsyl- 
vanian  by  birth,  the  son  of  Dr.  Robert  Smith  of  Pequa, 
Lancaster  County;  his  mother,  a  remarkably  talented 
woman,  a  sister  of  the  two  Blairs,  Samuel  and  John — 
both  famous  teachers  and  preachers  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  that  day.  He  graduated  from  Princeton  with 
high  honor,  was  for  a  time  assistant  teacher  for  his  father, 
then  tutor  in  Princeton.  Meantime  he  studied  theology 
and  was  licensed  to  preach  (1773)  by  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Castle.  As  a  preacher  he  reminded  the  people  of 
the  eloquent  Samuel  Davies,  whose  fame  was  not  limited 


THE    LOG    COLLEGES.  1 29 

to  Virginia.  Among  the  trustees  of  Hampden-Sidney 
were  Patrick  Henry  and  James  Madison. 

In  1749  Hanover  Presbytery  established  also  Augusta 
Academy  in  what  is  now  Rockbridge  County.  This 
school  was  placed  under  the  care  of  Rev.  William  Gra- 
ham. The  latter  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  (1775),  a 
son  of  a  Pennsylvania  farmer,  in  his  youth  inured  to  the 
dangers  and  hardships  of  frontier  life;  a  bright  intellect, 
he  managed  to  secure  a  superior  education,  which  he  con- 
secrated to  the  cause  of  learning  and  religion.  Under 
Dr.  Graham  in  this  institution  was  trained  Rev.  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Alexander,  afterwards  so  long  Professor  of  Theol- 
ogy in  Princeton  Seminary.  The  Revolutionary  War, 
of  course,  interfered  with  the  academy;  its  name  was 
changed  to  Liberty  Hall  in  1776;  and  it  was  chartered 
as  a  college  (1782)  under  that  significant  name.  After- 
ward George  Washington  endowed  it,  for  the  times,  with 
a  large  amount,  and  in  gratitude  the  trustees  changed  the 
name  to  Washington  (1812) — it  is  now  known  as  Wash- 
ington and  Lee  University.  The  last  name  was  adopted 
in  1871. 

Theology  Taught  Separately. — Dr.  Graham  resigned 
the  Presidency  but  turned  his  attention  specially  to  giving 
instruction  in  theology  to  a  number  of  students.  The 
synod  of  Virginia,  recognizing  the  importance  of  the 
movement,  and,  no  doubt,  influenced  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Hanover,  which,  in  its  contest  with  the  intolerant  civil 
authorities  of  Virginia,  had  been  trained  to  have  far- 
reaching  views,  added  a  theological  department  to  Liberty 
Hall.  This  was  the  first  theological  seminary  in  the 
United  States  established  in  connection  with  a  college. 
This  department  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  students 
in  1794;  two  years  afterward  Professor  Graham  resigned. 
The  loss  was  so  serious  that  the  seminary  languished  and 
finally  passed  out  of  existence. 


130  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

The  Private  Classical  Schools. — The  Log  College  of 
Mr.  Tennent  (see  p.  iii)  was  imitated  in  its  plan  of  study 
by  other  private  schools.  Rev.  Samuel  Finley,  after- 
ward President  of  Princeton  College,  established  a  noted 
one  at  Nottingham,  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania.  Here 
were  educated,  besides  a  number  of  ministers,  Governor 
Martin  of  North  Carolina,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  a  cele- 
brated physician  of  the  times.  Governor  Henry  of  Mary- 
land. Among  the  clergymen  were  Rev.  Drs.  Alexander 
McWhorter  and  James  Waddel.  The  blind  preacher 
graphically  described  by  William  Wirt.  The  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Blair,  also,  founded  a  classical  and  theological  school 
at  Fagg's  Manor,  likewise  in  Chester  County,  about  the 
year  1743.  At  this  school  were  educated  for  the  greater 
part  a  number  of  eminent  men,  such  as  Rev.  Samuel  Da- 
vies,  afterward  President  of  Princeton  College;  John 
Rodgers,  long  a  pastor  of  the  historic  Brick  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  City  of  New  York ;  James  Finley,  who  mi- 
grated to  Western  Pennsylvania  and  was  for  many  years 
pastor  of  the  churches  of  Rehoboth  and  Round  Hill,  in 
the  Forks  of  Yough,  and  who  afterward  had  private  stu- 
dents in  theology,  and  many  others. 

A  classical  school  modeled  on  the  same  plan  was  in 
1743  established  at  New  London,  Pennsylvania.  It  was, 
however,  under  the  care  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and 
was  to  be  supported  by  contributions  from  the  congre- 
gations. The  ministers  donated  a  number  of  books  to 
the  college  library.  The  enterprise  on  the  whole  was  not 
successful,  as  the  attention  of  the  students  was  turned  in 
another  direction — toward  Princeton. 

When  the  union  took  place  of  the  Synods  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  (1758)  Nassau  Hall  or  Princeton  be- 
came the  favorite  of  the  united  synod.  The  latter  soon 
overshadowed  all  these  classical  schools  as  its  curriculum 
of  study  was  so  much  more  varied  and  extensive  than 


Rev.   Archibald  Alexander,  D.  D. 
(129,  250,  337.) 


THE    LOG    COLLEGES.  I3I 

could  be  obtained  in  the  former.  In  consequence,  to 
Princeton  went  the  majority  of  the  Presbyterian  students 
in  their  preparation  for  the  ministry. 

Schools  beyond  the  Alleghanies. — The  same  spirit  in 
relation  to  an  educated  ministry  crossed  the  Alleghanies 
into  Western  Pennsylvania,  with  the  Presbyterian  emi- 
grants from  New  Jersey,  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 
land and  Virginia.  It  is  worthy  of  note  the  facilities  at 
that  time  for  crossing  the  Alleghany  Mountains  into  the 
fertile  valley  of  the  Ohio  were  limited  to  two  military 
roads — the  one  made  by  Braddock  (1755),  which  com- 
menced at  where  Cumberland,  Maryland,  now  stands,  and 
the  other  made  by  General  Forbes  (1758),  up  the  Sus- 
quehanna and  the  Juniata  rivers  and  thence  across  the 
mountains.  Multitudes  of  immigrants,  the  great  major- 
ity of  whom  belonged  to  the  different  branches  of  the 
Presbyterian  family,  began  to  pour  into  that  region  after 
peace  was  assured  by  France  in  1763,  ceding  Canada  to 
England.  The  prosperity  of  these  various  settlements 
was  unprecedented.  We  find  in  that  region,  within  twen- 
ty or  twenty-five  years  after  the  great  migration  began, 
a  number  of  private  classical  and  theological  schools,  each 
having  a  limited  number  of  young  men  as  pupils,  many 
of  whom  were  studying  for  the  sacred  office.  These 
students,  in  connection  with  their  classical  and  literary 
studies,  took  up  also  the  study  of  the  Bible  in  its  original 
tongues  and  the  Westminster  Confession.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  arrangement  at  the  end  of  their  academic 
course  they  were  equally  if  not  better  scholars  in  theology 
than  in  the  classics  and  sciences.  This  accounts  for  the 
historic  fact  that  so  many  of  these  students,  when  exam- 
ined by  the  presbyteries,  were  found  prepared  and  as  such 
were  licensed  to  preach.  Oftentimes  others,  after  finish- 
ing the  prescribed  course  of  study  in  these  schools,  de- 
voted a  time,  usually  not  defined  as  to  length,  in  the  spe- 


132  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

cial  Study  of  theology  and  pastoral  duties  aiider  the  super- 
vision of  some  pastor.  Thus  was  tacitly  recognized  the 
importance  of  such  students  having  special  instruction 
under  competent  professors  in  the  science  of  theology  it- 
self, and  the  influence  of  this  fact  led  finally  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  Presbyterian  theological  seminaries — the 
first  in  the  Union. 

The  Germs  of  Two  Colleges. — One  of  these  schools,  un- 
der the  care  of  Rev.  Thaddeus  Dod,  was  the  germ  of 
Washington  College,  chartered  in  1806.  This  log  school- 
house  was  erected  in  1781  by  the  spontaneous  efforts  of 
the  Presbyterian  settlers  in  the  neighborhood.  The  latter 
are  said  to  have  brought  with  them  their  "New  Jersey 
and  New  England  tastes,"  and  in  consequence,  in  point  of 
zeal,  for  the  promotion  of  education,  were  in  advance  of 
most  of  the  other  settlers. 

Rev.  Joseph  Smith  was  born  in  1736  and  graduated 
from  Princeton  in  1764,  and  five  years  later  we  find  him 
pastor  of  a  church.  Lower  Brandywine.  Here  he  labored 
nine  years  then  migrated  to  Western  Pennsylvania  and 
became  pastor  of  two  congregations — Buffalo  and  Cross 
Creek.  Here  he  remained  till  his  almost  premature  death, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  after  twelve  years  of  unwonted  suc- 
cess. A  revival  commenced  soon  after  he  entered  upon 
his  pastorate  and  continued  to  the  end  of  his  earthly  career, 
"In  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it  his  power  was  wonderful 
*  *  *  his  manner  had  a  strange  power  that  was  inde- 
scribable. His  mind  had  been  disciplined  by  classical  and 
collegiate  drilling,  but  in  the  earnest  glow  of  his  eloquence 
he  spurned  'scholarly  reasoning  and  cautious  logic'  as 
an  eagle  would  a  ladder  by  which  to  climb.''' 

In  1785  he  established  a  classical  school  for  training 
young  men  ultimately  for  the  ministry.  He  had  no  sep- 
arate building  and  his  self-denying  wife  gave  up  her 
kitchen  for  a  school-room.    Here  commenced  the  studies 


THE    LOG     COLLEGES.  1 33 

of  three  remarkable  men :  James  McGready,  Joseph  Pat- 
terson and  Samuel  Porter.  They  afterward  studied  the- 
ology under  the  care  of  Dr.  McMillan, 

The  school  of  that  region  which  far  excelled  all  others 
in  its  influence  was  established  by  Rev.  John  McMillan, 
D.D.,  at  his  residence  about  two  miles  from  the  village 
of  Canonsburg.  The  original  building  was  composed 
of  round  logs  taken  from'  the  forest  in  the  vicinity.  Mc- 
Millan was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  and  when  about  to 
set  out  for  his  work  beyond  the  mountains  (1776)  Dr. 
Robert  Smith  of  Pequa,  his  theological  instructor,  urged 
him  "to  look  out  some  pious  young  men  and  educate 
them  for  the  ministry." 

In  this  log  college  were  educated  numbers  of  young  men 
who  became  missionaries  and  pastors  in  that  region,  while 
others  entered  upon  different  professions.  The  school 
was  afterward  removed  to  Canonsburg  and  eventually  be- 
came Jefferson  College,  chartered  in  1802. 

The  private  members  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  in 
this  region  have  always  been  ardent  supporters  of  an 
educated  ministry.  The  self-denial  of  Mrs.  Smith  was 
an  illustration  of  the  devotion  of  the  women  of  those  prim- 
itive times.  The  indigent  but  worthy  young  men  who 
were  studying  for  the  sacred  office  were  most  cordially 
aided  to  eke  out  their  support  by  the  ladies  of  the  sev- 
eral congregations.  All  at  that  time  wore  homespun,  or 
clothes  of  domestic  manufacture.  For  instance,  to  aid 
the  students  the  women  often  made  clothes  of  domestic 
linen  made  from  the  flax  of  their  clearings,  and  which  was 
colored  by  being  boiled  with  new-mown  grass.  For  win- 
ter wear  flannel,  made  from  domestic  wool,  which  was 
carded,  then  spun  and  woven  and  fulled  to  an  extent  and 
dyed  by  means  of  being  boiled  amid  bark  of  trees  of  wal- 
nut, perhaps,  more  than  any  other,  the  color  thus  pro- 
duced was  a  light  yellow.     This  "homespun"  was  used 


134  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

by  all  in  those  early  days.  Tradition  tells  how  Mrs,  John 
McMillan  was  a  faithful  and  persevering  helpmeet  for 
her  husband  in  his  labors  in  relieving  him  of  many  cor- 
roding cares,  and  how  she  sympathized  with  the  young 
theologians  who  were  his  students,  and  with  what  mother- 
ly care  she  watched  over  them  in  respect  to  their  temporal 
wants,  and  by  her  never-failing  faith  and  practical  wis- 
dom cheered  them  in  their  paths  of  duty. 

After  the  removal  of  Dr.  McMillan's  school  to  Can- 
onsburg  it  was  known  by  the  more  dignified  title — the 
Academy.  The  greater  part  of  its  necessary  expenses 
was  borne  by  the  members  of  the  churches  in  the  country 
round  about.  The  women,  as  usual,  were  preeminently 
diligent  in  their  way  to  aid  the  institution.  One  form  of 
their  raising  money  for  the  purpose  was  to  "knit  woolen 
socks,  which  found  a  ready  sale  in  the  stores  in  Pitts- 
burg."    (President  Matthew  Brozvn.) 

Study  on  Two  Lines. — In  these  schools  the  young  men 
were  taught  the  classics  in  connection  with  theology;  in 
the  latter  the  principal  text-books  were  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures in  their  original  languages.  Many  of  these  stu- 
dents afterward  became  the  missionaries  and  pastors  for 
the  Presbyterian  churches  scattered  through  the  region 
watered  by  the  Monongahela,  the  Allegheny,  the  Upper 
Ohio  and  their  tributaries.  As  Presbyterian  immigrants 
from  east  of  the  mountains  came  flocking  in,  churches 
and  preaching  stations  increased  in  number,  and  to  supply 
their  wants  with  greater  facility  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio 
was  set  off  from  that  of  Redstone  in  1793.  This  was  done 
in  accordance  with  that  most  influential  custom  incident 
to  the  presbyterian  form  of  church  government,  namely, 
that  of  promoting  a  frequent  and  fraternal  intercourse 
among  its  ministers  and  elders,  as  they  meet  from  time 
to  time  in  the  church  judicatures;  in  such  meetings  of 


THE    LOG    COLLEGES.  I35 

their  representatives  the  private  members  of  the  church 
take  an  intelHgent  interest. 

Schools  Further  South  beyond  the  Alleghanies. — A 
similar  spirit  in  respect  to  education  animated  the  pio- 
neers of  Presbyterianism  in  the  South,  who  crossed  the 
same  mountains  into  East  Tennessee  and  thence  to  Ken- 
tucky. Rev.  Samuel  Doak,  a  graduate  of  Princeton  and 
also  a  student  of  theology  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Rob- 
ert Smith  at  Pequa,  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Hanover  in  1777.  He  went  as  a  missionary 
to  the  settlements  on  the  Holston,  and  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  its  valley,  and  there  in  order  to  eke  out  his  sal- 
ary he  cultivated  his  own  farm.  He  was  ever  diligent 
in  preaching  and  laboring  in  the  settlements  in  thUt  re- 
gion. He  also  erected  a  log-house  and  established  a  clas- 
sical and  theological  school,  the  library  for  which  was  car- 
ried across  the  Alleghanies  on  pack-horses.  This  school 
became  Washington  College  in  1795.  This  was  the  first 
chartered  college  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi ;  Jeffer- 
son, in  Western  Pennsylvania,  was  seven  years  younger. 
Dr.  Doak  presided  over  Washington  College  for  twenty- 
three  years.  He  then  removed  to  the  vicinity  of  Greene- 
ville,  Greene  County,  where  he  established  another  clas- 
sical school,  which  was  named  Tusculum  Academy — that 
title  was  changed  to  college  when  it  was  incorporated  by 
the  legislature;  and  finally  it  was  united  with  Greene- 
ville  College  (1868)  and  is  now  known  as  Greeneville  and 
Tusculum  College.  "Few  men  in  the  history  of  the  church 
were  better  fitted  by  wisdom,  sagacity,  energy  and  learn- 
ing to  lay  the  foundations  of  social  and  religious  institu- 
tions than  Dr.  Doak."    {Gillett,  I.,  p.  42/.) 

Hesekiah  Balch. — In  1785  Hezekiah  Balch  came  into 
East  Tennessee.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  in  1762 
and  had  been  a  classical  teacher  and  student  of  theology. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  New 


136  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Castle,  and  finally  migrated  to  East  Tennessee.  There  he 
labored  in  preaching  and  teaching  for  more  than  twenty 
years.  His  influence  was  also  exerted  in  establishing 
Greeneville  College. 

Three  ministers  in  this  region,  Samuel  Carrick,  Charles 
Cummings  and  Hezekiah  Balch,  and  others,  overtured 
the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  to  be  formed  into  a  presbytery. 
In  answer  to  this  request  the  Presbytery  of  Abington  was 
set  off  from  that  of  Hanover  and  constituted  in  1785. 
Within  its  jurisdiction  was  included  the  territory  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  States  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  This 
was  the  second  presbytery  organized  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  that  of  Redstone  being  the  older  by  four 
years. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  there  were  at  this  same 
period  two  centers  of  Presbyterian  influence  west  of  the 
Alleghanies,  and  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  great  and 
marvelously  fertile  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  settle- 
ments on  the  headstreams  of  the  Tennessee  and  the  ad- 
jacent regions,  and  those  on  the  headstreams  of  the  Ohio, 
were  almost  due  north  and  south,  while  between  them 
was  virtually  an  unbroken  wilderness  of  nearly  four  hun- 
dred miles.  We  shall  see  in  the  course  of  this  history, 
when  the  necessity  and  opportunity  came,  with  what  zeal 
these  Presbyterians  labored  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  des- 
titute settlements  that  were  afterward  founded  within  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi. 


XVII. 

Presbyterian    Settlements    in    the    Shenandoah 

Valley. 

During  this  period  of  which  we  have  been  writing 
movements  in  founding  settlements  were  going  on  in  the 
Shenandoah  valley  of  Virginia.  The  first  migration 
thither  was  led  by  Joist  Hite  in  1732.  Nearly,  if  not  all 
of  these  settlements  were  made  by  the  emigration  of  Pres- 
byterians from  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland; 
to  these  in  after  years  were  added  Quakers  and  Germans 
from  the  same  states.  These  migrations  came  principally 
from  the  northern  portion  of  the  great  valley  known  as  the 
Cumberland  in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  the  Shenan- 
doah in  Virginia,  and  still  further  south,  as  the  Tennes- 
see. This  continuous  valley  extends  nearly  one  thousand 
miles  along  the  depression  east  of  the  Alleghanies  and 
west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  in  Virginia,  and  the  corresponding 
highlands  in  the  other  States. 

The  Letters  of  the  Synod  and  of  the  Governor. — The 
Synod  of  Philadelphia  (1738),  on  the  request  of  John 
Caldwell — the  maternal  grandfather  of  the  famous 
statesman,  John  Caldwell  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina — 
sent  a  commission  of  two  of  its  members  to  wait  on  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  Gooch  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia.  Mr. 
Caldwell  wished  to  lead  a  colony  from  Pennsylvania  to 
homes  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  the  object  of 
the  commission  was  to  obtain  a  permit  for  this  company 
to  migrate  to  "the  back-parts"  of  his  colony.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  synod  state  in  their  petition  that  they  are  of 
II 


138  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

"the  persuasion  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  *  *  * 
that  those  of  their  profession  in  Europe  have  been  re- 
markable for  their  inviolable  attachment  to  the  House  of 
Hanover,  and  to  our  gracious  King  George  (H.),  and 
we  doubt  not  but  these  our  brethren  will  carry  the  same 
loyal  principles  to  the  most  distant  settlements  where 
their  lot  may  be  cast." 

The  following  year  the  governor  sent  an  autograph 
letter  to  the  moderator  of  the  synod,  in  which  after  some 
preliminary  remarks  he  said :  "You  may  be  assured  that 
no  interruption  shall  be  given  to  any  minister  of  your 
profession  who  shall  come  among  them  (the  settlers),  so 
as  they  conform  themselves  to  the  rules  prescribed  by  the 
Act  of  Toleration  in  England,  by  taking  the  oaths  thereby, 
andf  registering  the  place  of  their  meeting,  and  behave 
themselves  peaceably  toward  the  government."  We  shall 
see  in  this  narrative  how  this  promise  was  kept.  {See  p. 
146.)  The  governor  was  willing  that  these  settlements 
should  be  made  in  that  region,  so  distant  from  those  on 
the  tide-water,  since  they  served  as  a  protection  against 
the  incursions  of  the  Indians. 

Presbyterians  in  North  Carolina. — In  course  of  time 
these  Presbyterians  found  their  way  into  the  fertile  re- 
gions further  south  in  North  Carolina,  in  the  County  of 
Mechlinberg  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Catawba.  Numbers 
of  them  also  crossed  over  the  Blue  Ridge  and  settled  in 
the  adjacent  portion  of  Virginia,  and  there  took  part  half 
a  century  later  in  a  remarkable  struggle  for  religious 
liberty.  Afterward  many  others  passed  over  the  Allegha- 
nies  into  what  is  now  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  carrying 
with  them  as  household  books  the  Bible,  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  and  its  Catechisms. 

These  settlements  having  increased  in  number,  applied 
to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  to  send  them  Presbyterian 
ministers.     In  1719  Rev.  Daniel  Magill  traveled  among 


SETTLEMENTS     IN     THE     SHENANDOAH     VALLEY.  1 39 

them  as  an  evangelist  and  labored  for  several  months  in 
the  region  and  organized  a  church  in  the  vicinity  of  where 
now  stands  the  town  of  Martinsburg.  Some  years  later 
(1732)  another  church  was  organized  at  Opeckon,  a  few 
miles  south  of  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Winchester. 
The  tide  of  newcomers  continued  to  flow  on  for  many 
years.  Meanwhile  other  churches  were  constituted  and 
the  cry  for  help  came  up  again  and  again  to  the  synod  for 
more  ministers,  who  might  serve  as  settled  pastors  when 
the  people  became  able  to  support  a  stated  ministry.  The 
Rev.  James  Gelston,  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Don- 
egal, became  pastor  (1737)  at  Opeckon.  Meantime  itin- 
erants were  visiting  these  scattered  and  feeble  churches, 
but  which  in  the  course  of  years  became  strong  enough 
to  support  pastors.  The  valley,  so  beautiful  in  its  natural 
features,  the  fertility  of  its  soil  and  the  healthfulness  of 
the  climate,  attracted  settlers  in  large  numbers.  The  Rev. 
John  Blair,  afterward  famed  for  his  talents  and  his  suc- 
cess as  a  preacher,  itinerated  throughout  the  entire  region 
for  two  years  (1745-6). 

The  Mission  of  William  Robinson. — The  Presbyterians 
in  Hanover  County,  who  still  continued  to  worship  in  the 
"reading  houses"  {p.  122),  heard  of  these  churches  and 
preachers  of  their  own  persuasion  in  the  valley  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  they  too  sent  a  deputation  to  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Castle  to  obtain  a  minister.  The  presbytery  in  re- 
sponse sent  the  Rev.  William  Robinson,  who  as  an  evan- 
gelist had  been  laboring  among  the  churches  in  the  valley 
during  the  previous  winter,  Robinson  was  the  son  of  a 
wealthy  English  Quaker,  who  migrated  when  a  youth  to 
the  colonies.  On  July  6,  1743,  Robinson  preached  to  a 
large  audience  the  first  Presbyterian  sermon  ever  heard 
in  Hanover  County.  On  the  following  day  the  congrega- 
tion was  greatly  increased  in  number,  and  so  continued 
for  four  days — the  length  of  time  that  he  could  remain 


I40  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

with  them.  Many  were  awakened  and  some  were  con- 
verted, and  all  were  deeply  impressed.  The  people  man- 
ifested their  gratitude  by  offering  to  pay  him  liberally  for 
his  services,  but  he  absolutely  refused  to  receive  any  com- 
pensation. But  they  were  not  to  be  baffled.  They  found 
means  to  slip  the  silver  into  his  saddlebags,  and  when  he 
came  to  handle  them  he  noticed  their  unusual  weight  and 
on  investigation  he  found  the  money.  "It  is  your  gift," 
said  he,  "and  there  is  a  providence  in  it.  I  know  a  worthy 
young  man  who  is  struggling  under  pecuniary  difficul- 
ties in  his  studying  for  the  ministry.  I  will  give  him  the 
money,  and  perhaps  he  may  yet  come  and  preach  for  you. 
As  soon  as  he  is  licensed  we  will  send  him  to  visit  you; 
it  may  be  that  you  may  now,  by  your  liberality,  be  edu- 
cating a  minister  for  yourselves."  Four  years  later  that 
young  man — Samuel  Davies — (1747)  came  to  Hanover 
to  the  same  people  and  remained  for  twenty-two  years 
their  pastor  till  called  by  the  church  to  higher  and  more 
responsible  positions.  He  has  been  characterized  on  good 
authority  as  one  of  "the  greatest  divines  the  American 
Presbyterian  Church  has  produced" — certainly  of  the 
colonial  period. 

Dr.  Samuel  Davies. — This  remarkable  man  deserves  a 
passing  notice.  Of  Welsh  extraction,  born  in  1723  in  the 
colony  of  Delaware,  his  father  a  farmer  of  moderate 
worldly  means  and  of  a  devout  character,  his  mother  of 
superior  mental  endowments  and  very  ardent  in  her  re- 
ligious convictions.  Like  Hannah  of  old,  she  consecrated 
her  son  to  the  Lord,  and  for  that  reason  named  him  Sam- 
uel. Davies  was  the  most  noted  man  in  the  church  of  that 
period,  not  merely  as  an  eloquent  and  devotedly  pious 
and  successful  preacher,  but  as  a  grand  organizer  and  of 
great  influence  among  the  people  and  his  ministerial  breth- 
ren because  of  his  mental  power  and  symmetry  of  charac- 
ter.    He  traveled  much  in  the  colonies  and  was  listened 


SETTLEMENTS     IN     THE     SHENANDOAH     VALLEY.  I4I 

to  by  sympathetic  multitudes.  The  congregations  to 
which  he  ministered  in  Virginia  were  some  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  apart,  because  the  colonial  authorities  under 
the  influence  of  the  clergy  and  the  illiberal  vestries  would 
not  permit  any  more  dissenting  meeting-houses  to  be 
built,  notwithstanding  the  wants  of  the  people.  The  peo- 
ple in  great  numbers  and  often  from  long  distances  flocked 
to  hear  him  preach.  He  was  not  only  well  versed  in  Chris- 
tian scholarship,  as  his  theology  was  drawn  directly  from 
the  principles  of  the  Bible,  but  he  was  at  home  in  the  laws 
of  England  in  respect  to  the  established  church  and  the 
proper  interpretation  and  intent  of  the  famous  partially 
liberal  Act  of  Toleration  enacted  in  1690. 

In  his  younger  days  especially  Davies  was  in  very  deli- 
cate health,  and  he  seemed  moved  as  in  the  presence  of 
death  when  he  preached,  which  he  often  did  after  a  night 
of  pain  and  sleeplessness.  He  was  afterward  President 
of  Princeton  College,  and  to  raise  funds  in  whose  behalf 
he  was  sent  to  England.  On  one  occasion  in  returning  to 
Hanover  from  a  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  New  York 
(1748),  to  which  he  belonged  as  a  member  of  New  Castle 
Presbytery,  he  brought  with  him  a  young  man — John 
Rodgers — just  licensed  to  preach.  Forty  years  afterward 
(p.  208)  Rodgers  took  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
General  Assembly  (1788),  at  which  time  he  was  also  pas- 
tor of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York  City. 
On  his  way  Rodgers  dared  preach  somewhere  without  the 
formality  of  a  license  from  the  Virginia  authorities,  which 
he  intended  to  obtain  at  Williamsburg.  His  application 
was  flatly  refused  by  the  council — all  churchmen — 
though  it  appears  Governor  Gooch  favored  giving  the 
young  man  a  license.  Rodgers  had  dared  in  the  presence 
of  the  council  to  assert  his  inherent  right  as  a  minister  to 
preach  the  gospel. 

An  Incident. — We  give  place  to  an  incident  connected 


142  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

with  this  refusal  of  a  license  to  preach.  A  clergyman  of 
the  establishment  who  learned  of  the  preaching  of  Rodg- 
ers,  rode  some  forty  or  fifty  miles  to  make  a  charge 
against  the  young  man  before  the  Governor  and  Council 
for  thus  preaching  and  to  urge  his  exemplary  punish- 
ment. When  he  presented  himself  before  Governor 
Gooch  he  met  an  unexpected  reception.  The  latter's  in- 
dignation burst  forth ;  said  he :  "I  am  surprised  at  you ! 
You  profess  to  be  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  you 
come  and  complain  of  a  man  and  wish  me  to  punish  him 
for  preaching  His  gospel !  For  shame,  sir !  Go  home  and 
mind  your  own  duty.  For  such  a  piece  of  conduct  you 
deserve  to  have  your  gown  torn  from  your  shoulders." 

The  Presbyterians  of  Hanover  Specially  Hated. — This 
council  undertook  to  discuss,  if  not  decide,  how  many 
meeting-houses  the  dissenters  should  have.  That  council 
— all  churchmen — was  particularly  hostile  to  the  Presby- 
terians of  Hanover  County,  and  especially  so  because  they 
were  not  immigrants  from  the  other  colonies,  but  were 
resident  laymen  of  the  established  church,  and  had  of  their 
own  accord,  as  a  matter  of  Christian  duty,  refused  to  at- 
tend the  services  of  the  church  for  reasons  already  stated 
(Section  XV.),  and  this  before  they  had  learned  of  such 
a  denomination  as  the  Presbyterians. 

The  council  argued  that  the  Act  of  Toleration  might 
apply  to  the  Presbyterians  that  lived  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge,  because  with  the  permission  of  the  Governor  they 
had  come  thither  from  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and 
Maryland,  but  not  to  those  who,  on  religious  grounds, 
had  withdrawn  from  the  established  church  and  thus  cre- 
ated a  schism  and  became  dissenters  of  the  most  offen- 
sive character.  This  was  virtually  the  opinion  of  Peyton 
Randolph,  the  king's  attorney,  and  the  most  bitter  lay 
opponent  of  the  Presbyterians  in  Hanover  County.  {See 
p.  i68.) 


SETTLEMENTS     IN     THE     SHENANDOAH    VALLEY.  1 43 

The  Two  Modes  of  Levying  Church  Rates. — In  this 
connection  it  may  be  noted  that  the  Cavaliers  of  Virginia 
and  the  majority  of  the  congregational  portion  of  the  Pur- 
itans of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  virtually  agreed 
in  deeming  it  essential  that  the  church  should  be  in  con- 
nection with  the  state,  in  order  that  the  latter  might  be 
properly  supported.  The  Congregationalists  did  not  im- 
pose fines  for  non-attendance  at  church,  as  did  the  Church- 
men of  Virginia ;  they  required  only  that  the  taxes  which 
were  levied  upon  the  citizens  of  the  town  for  the  general 
support  of  the  gospel  should  be  paid.  "It  was  the  law  in 
both  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts thatassessments  levied 
on  the  town  for  the  support  of  the  ministry,  the  members 
or  attendants  of  the  Church  of  England,  were  at  liberty  to 
pay  over  their  assessments  to  the  support  of  the  resident 
Episcopal  minister  if  there  was  one  in  the  town"  (1727). 
All  the  inhabitants  were  taxed  alike,  but  an  exception  was 
made  in  favor  of  the  Church  of  England  and  its  members 
that  they  "should  not  be  charged  with  the  erection  of  Con- 
gregational meeting-houses"  {Ch.  Hist.  Series,  Vol.  III., 
pp.  2^4,  ^33)-  What  a  contrast  this  mode  was  with  that 
of  the  Church  of  England  when  it  had  the  power,  as  in 
the  colonies  of  New  York  and  Virginia.  In  the  latter  all 
the  tithes  collected  from  dissenters  were  demanded  for 
the  use  of  the  established  church.  On  the  contrary,  the 
Presbyterian  element  among  the  Puritans  repudiated,  ab- 
solutely, the  right  of  the  civil  authorities  to  interfere  in 
religious  aflfairs  at  all,  except  so  far  as  to  protect  all  per- 
sons and  all  denominations  in  their  rights,  civil  and  re- 
ligious. In  order  to  avoid  giving  the  civil  magistrate  an 
excuse  for  such  interference,  they  proposed  that  the  Chris- 
tians or  church  members  should  themselves  bear  in  full 
the  expenses  of  supporting  their  own  ministers  and  all 
the  liabilities  incurred  by  the  church  in  respect  to  money 
matters.    There  is  not  an  instance  on  record  wherein  the 


144  A     HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Presbyterians  when  free  and  untrammeled  by  outside  po- 
litical influence  ever  did  otherwise  than  support  their  own 
church,  and  accorded  the  same  freedom  in  religious  mat- 
ters to  others  which  they  demanded  for  themselves. 

The  M£cklenhurg  Declaration. — In  connection  with 
these  movements  we  anticipate,  in  point  of  time,  an  inci- 
dent. The  migrations  of  Presbyterians  continued  to  press 
along  the  Shenandoah  Valley  and  finally  they  diverged  to 
the  southeast,  and  crossing  the  Blue  Ridge  found  homes 
in  the  valleys  of  the  Catawba  and  the  Yadkin,  as  well  as 
in  the  region  between  these  rivers.  This  immigration  was 
greatly  increased  in  1755  because  of  hostile  Indian  in- 
cursions that  occurred  after  the  defeat  of  General  Brad- 
dock.  The  nominal  center  of  the  settlements  thus  formed 
appears  to  have  been  in  Mecklenburg  County. 

To  this  region  came  the  Rev."  Alexander  Craighead  in 
1758;  he  had  been  licensed  by  the  Donegal  Presbytery 
in  1734.  Though  eccentric  in  some  of  his  peculiar  char- 
acteristics, he  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  religious  and 
civil  liberty.  He  was  also  a  warm  friend  of  George  White- 
field  and  noted  for  the  spirituality  of  his  preaching  and 
the  many  revivals  which  sealed  his  ministry.  He  had, 
likewise,  experienced  the  ecclesiastical  tyranny  of  the  es- 
tablished church  in  Virginia,  and  when  he  migrated  to 
North  Carolina  he  enjoyed  the  freedom  of  speech  and 
exercised  it  with  great  zeal.  For  more  than  twenty  years 
as  a  settled  pastor  and  often  as  a  missionary  in  the  adja- 
cent region  he  preached  the  gospel  and  also  proclaimed 
the  opinion  that  religious  freedom  could  be  obtained  only 
in  independence  of  the  British  crown. 

To  these  settlements  in  a  course  of  years  was  also  a 
large  influx  of  emigrants  from  the  north  of  Ireland — 
Scotch-Irish — if  we  may  judge  from  the  names  of  their 
descendants ;  some  came  direct  from  the  port  of  Charles- 
ton. S.  C,  and  others  direct  from  Philadelphia  and  the 


SETTLEMENTS     IN     THE    SHENANDOAH     VALLEY.  1 45 

Delaware.  These  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  were  char- 
acterized as  having  "the  impulsiveness  of  the  Irishman 
with  the  dogged  resolution  of  the  Covenanter." 

All  the  Presbyterian  ministers  and  elders,  and  indeed 
the  male  church  members  in  this  region,  were  intelligent 
and  pronounced  advocates  of  religious  freedom.  In  the 
Mecklenburg  County  convention  they  were  specially 
prominent  in  influence  and  in  numbers.  When  that  con- 
vention was  in  session  in  May,  1775,  a  courier  arrived 
and  gave  information  in  respect  to  what  was  transpiring 
in  the  North.  The  conflicts  at  Concord  and  Lexington 
had  already  taken  place:  "Finally  with  indignation  the 
delegates  resolved  to  throw  off  the  authority  of  the  king 
and  parliament."  Ephraim  Brevard,  "trained  in  the  col- 
lege at  Princeton,"  and  afterward  a  martyr  in  the  cause, 
embodied  their  sentiments  in  resolutions,  which  declared : 
"All  laws  and  commissions  confirmed  by  or  derived  from 
the  authority  of  the  king  and  parliament  to  be  annulled 
and  vacated."  They  were  practical  men,  and  they  also 
resolved  to  take  measures  to  maintain  their  rights.  (Four 
Hundred  Years,  etc.,  p.  ^66,  and  pp.  52^-526.) 

This  declaration  of  the  convention  was  an  earnest 
of  what  followed  in  after  years  when  the  War  of 
the  Revolution  was  in  progress.  The  battle  of  King's 
Mountain,  which  in  its  influence  had  a  similar  effect  upon 
the  success  of  Cornwallis  that  the  battle  of  Bennington 
had  on  that  of  Burgoyne,  was  fought  mostly  by  Presby- 
terians. The  leaders  in  that  battle — Cols.  Sevier,  Shelby, 
and  Campbell — were  Presbyterian  elders,  while  the  pa- 
triots under  their  commands  were  for  the  most  part  Pres- 
byterians. Gen.  Daniel  Morgan,  who  commanded  at  the 
battle  of  "The  Cowpens,"  was  a  Presbyterian  elder,  and 
so  was  Gen.  Pickens  of  South  Carolina.  General  Francis 
Marion,  of  Huguenot  descent,  was  also  a  Presbyterian. 


146         A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Lord  Cornwallis  characterized  the  region  around  Char- 
lotte, which  was  settled  by  the  Scotch-Irish,  as  a  "hornet  s 
nest." 

A  Sad  History. — It  may  not  be  in  vain  in  this  connec- 
tion for  the  author  to  yield  to  the  temptation  and  notice 
the  pathetic  appeal  for  aid  in  respect  to  education  and 
gospel  work  that  comes  to  the  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  to-day  from  the  descendants  of  those 
patriotic  Presbyterians — the  rank  and  file — who,  espe- 
cially in  this  region,  sustained  their  elders  as  leaders  on 
the  battlefields  of  the  Revolution.  Their  elders  were 
prominent  in  the  patriotic  movements  of  the  times,  and 
two  of  them.  Cols.  Sevier  and  Shelby,  were  afterward 
governors  of  their  respective  States,  Tennessee  and  Ken- 
tucky. It  is  evident  the  inhabitants  of  the  mountainous 
regions  of  North  Carolina  and  those  of  the  adjacent  States, 
for  the  most  part,  are  the  descendants  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians,  who  were  the  rank  and  file  of  the  armies 
just  mentioned.  This  fact  is  a  clear  inference  from  their 
family  names,  and  besides  there  was  no  other  people  from 
whom  they  could  have  descended.  These  men  were  in- 
telligent for  the  times;  they  understood  and  appreciated 
the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  for  which  they 
hazarded  their  lives.  But  alas !  for  nearly  a  century  a 
cloud  of  illiteracy  and  corresponding  ignorance  has  hung 
over  their  descendants.  How  has  this  calamity  been 
brought  about? 

Within  four  years  after  the  first  inauguration  of  George 
Washington  as  President  of  the  United  States,  Eli  Whit- 
ney invented  the  cotton  gin  (1793) ;  in  consequence  slave 
labor  became  more  valuable.  The  owners  of  slaves,  as 
this  value  increased,  began  to  covet  the  fertile  fields  of 
the  small  farmers,  who  did  not  own  slaves,  but  cultivated 
their  lands  by  their  own  labor.  Prejudices  grew  up  that 
made  the  situation  of  the  small  farmers  intolerable,  they 


SETTLEMENTS     IN     THE     SHENANDOAH     VALLEY.  1 47 

being  treated  as  an  inferior  class  by  the  slave-owners  and 
their  families.  The  lines  were  strictly  drawn  in  society. 
Those  who  earned  a  livelihood  by  their  own  labor  were 
stigmatized  as  "poor  whites"  or  "white  trash,"  and  other- 
wise annoyed.  Though  industrious  and  honest,  the  small 
farmers  were,  virtually,  forced  to  sell  their  farms  in  the 
fertile  lowlands  and  retire  to  less  fertile  hills  and  moun- 
tains. Thus  the  desirable  districts  of  these  States  were 
gradually  absorbed  in  large  plantations  and  devoted  to  the 
cultivation  of  cotton  and  tobacco  by  slave  labor. 

These  outrages  did  not  end  here;  the  lawmakers  were 
all  owners  of  slaves ;  no  other  class  ever  went  to  Congress 
or  even  to  the  legislature  of  any  slave-labor  State.  The  only 
political  privilege  permitted  the  non-.slave  owner  to  ex- 
ercise was  to  vote  for  the  nominees  of  the  slave  oligarchy. 
The  latter  forbid  under  severe  penalties  the  teaching  of 
slaves  to  read  and  write !  What  a  contrast !  Heathen 
Rome  did  not  deny  her  slaves  the  privilege  of  becoming 
educated.  The  legislatures  of  the  slave-labor  States  never 
made  provision  for  common  schools,  as  was  the  case  in 
the  free-labor  States.  The  slave-owners  were  able  to 
educate  their  families  by  means  of  private  instruction  or 
by  sending  them  to  colleges  or  seminaries,  usually  in  the 
Northern  States.  How  sadly  different  was  the  case  of 
these  "mountaineers."  The  parents  were  poor  and  unable 
to  educate  their  children,  the  latter  appear  in  respect  to 
that  advantage  to  have  degenerated  from  generation  to 
generation. 

It  is  equally  sad  to  note  that  during  this  period  there 
seems  to  have  been  less  effort  on  the  part  of  Presbyte- 
rians to  follow  these  poor  mountaineers  with  the  gospeJ 
than  to  bring  it  in  its  fulness  to  the  people  living  in  the 
valleys.  The  result  was  the  mountaineers  in  course  of 
time  became  alienated  from  the  church  of  their  fathers, 


148         A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

as  they  were  ministered  to  by  good  men,  though  compar- 
atively uneducated  as  preachers  and  of  different  faiths. 

When  the  slave  oligarchy  in  1861  made  an  attempt  to 
break  up  the  Union,  these  mountaineers,  with  the  liberty- 
loving  spirit  of  their  Revolutionary  fathers,  rallied  to  de- 
fend the  integrity  of  the  nation.  Let  wealthy  Americans 
who  value  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  in  gratitude  aid 
in  giving  the  children  of  these  loyal  patriots  educational 
institutions,  which  to-day  they  need  and  desire  so  much. 


XVIII. 
Pietists — Revivals — Division  and  Reunion. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  "a  new 
religious  force  burst  forth,  simultaneously,  in  different 
parts  of  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies."  It  appeared  as 
though  the  minds  of  the  people  in  these  far-separated 
places  were  prepared  to  receive  an  impulse  toward  a  pure 
and  heartfelt  religion.  These  movements  were  at  first 
virtually  independent  of  one  another  and  for  a  time  local 
in  their  influence.  They  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  phase 
of  religion  characterized  by  the  Puritans  as  "vital  piety." 
The  latter  were  too  much  influenced  by  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  proportion  to  the  New  Testament.  They  did 
not  apprehend  sufficiently  the  different  stages  in  divine 
doctrine  and  morals;  but  they  were  faithful  to  the  word 
of  God  as  they  understood  it.  They  desired  above  all 
things  to  be  conformed  to  God's  will ;  and  so  they  resisted 
coriforming  to  the  prelates'  will.  Their  ideal  was  a  holy 
life  in  communion  with  God.  This  was  the  noble  aspira- 
tion of  Puritanism  which  has  made  British  and  American 
society  the  most  ethical  and  upright,  the  most  manly  and 
godly  society  the  world  has  yet  seen." 

Moravians  and  Pietists. — In  the  British  Isles  the  lead- 
ers in  the  movement  which  began  about  1738  or  1739 
were  the  brothers,  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  while  inti- 
mately with  them  was  associated  George  Whitefield,  so 
famous  for  his  pulpit  eloquence.  The  Wesleys  "were 
guided  by  the  Moravians  into  the  light  and  to  the  adoption 
of  those  principles,  doctrines  and  methods  which  have 


150  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

been  the  characteristic  features  of  Methodism.  *  *  * 
Methodism  is  a  revival  of  Puritanism;  it  is  a  genuine 
development  of  British  Christianity;  and  yet  it  was  in- 
fluenced very  largely  by  the  pietism  of  the  Continent  of 
Europe.  But  pietism  owed  its  origin  to  the  impulses  of 
Puritanism  in  the  seventeenth  century.  *  *  *  Puri- 
tanism gave  the  Reformed  churches  of  Holland  and  Ger- 
many the  Covenant  theology  which  became  native  to  the 
soil  *  *  *  and  that  form  of  vital,  experimental  and 
practical  religion  became  a  potent  influence  in  pietism. 
*  *  *  It  was  an  appropriate  international  and  histor- 
ical recompense  that  the  Continent  should  receive  British 
Puritanism  and  transform  it  into  pietism,  and  that  subse- 
quently Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  should  receive  the 
pietism  of  the  Continent  and  transform  it  into  Method- 
ism."    (Anwr.  Pres.,  pp.  54,  55,  239.) 

Influence  of  Pietism. — The  Rev.  Jacob  Frelinghuysen, 
ancestor  of  the  Jersey  family  of  that  name,  who  came 
from  Holland,  settled  at  Raritan,  near  New  Brunswick, 
New  Jersey,  and  there  became  pastor  of  a  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  in  1720.  Here  with  great  zeal  he  labored  for 
twenty-seven  years,  and  the  result  was  repeated  revivals 
during  his  pastorate.  He  was  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  principles  of  the  pietists  who  sought  to  vitalize  the 
piety  of  the  Protestant  churches  of  Germany.  He  had 
been  educated  under  the  care  of  eminent  pietists  in  his  na- 
tive land.  George  Whitefield  represents  him  in  his  jour- 
nal as  the  originator  of  a  series  of  revivals,  saying :  "He 
is  a  worthy  old  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ  and  was  the  be- 
ginner of  the  great  work  which  I  trust  the  Lord  is  carry- 
ing on  in  these  parts."  "Frelinghuysen  insisted  upon  the 
necessity  of  regeneration  and  the  practice  of  piety  in 
order  to  participate  in  the  Lord's  Supper."  The  same 
doctrine  and  conditions  were,  also,  insisted  upon  by  Jon- 


PIETISTS — REVIVALS — DIVISION    AND    REUNION.  151 

athan  Edwards  in  the  great  revival  at  Northampton,  Mas- 
sachusetts (1735). 

Frelinghuysen  "was  systematic,  energetic  and  indus- 
trious in  his  ministerial  and  pastoral  duties.  *  *  * 
He  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church 
who  began  to  train  young  men  for  the  ministry." 

Differences  of  Opinion. — After  agreeing  upon  the 
Adopting  Act  the  synod  continued  to  prosper.  During 
twelve  years  (1729-1741)  more  than  forty  ministers  were 
added  to  its  number;  of  these,  a  few  had  been  trained  in 
the  American  church,  but  nearly  one-half  were  from  Scot- 
land and  north  of  Ireland.  Near  the  close  of  this  period 
a  new  element  of  discord  intervened.  Differences  of  opin- 
ion were  prevalent  and  had  their  respective  influence. 
Some  of  these  pertained  to  the  establishment  of  schools  for 
the  instruction  in  theology  of  candidates  for  the  ministry, 
and  also  in  respect  to  the  manner  of  preaching  the  gospel ; 
one  phase  of  the  latter  grew  out  of  the  great  revival  that 
commenced  in  1735  under  Jonathan  Edwards  at  North- 
ampton, Massachusetts,  and  whose  influence  extended 
to  the  Middle  colonies  {Patton's  Four  Hundred  Years, etc., 
pp.  266-268).  Among  the  leading  preachers  in  the  latter 
were  the  Tennents — the  father  and  four  sons — of  whom 
the  more  prominent  was  Gilbert,  but  they  all  preached 
with  power  and  their  labors  were  greatly  blest.  They 
were  aided  also  by  the  celebrated  George  Whitefield,  then 
on  his  preaching  tours  through  the  colonies.  Many  mem- 
bers of  the  synod  did  not  approve  the  manner  of  the  re- 
vivalists, nor  certain  measures  which  they  introduced, 
neither  did  they  seem  to  be  in  full  sympathy  with  the  re- 
vival itself;  there  were,  perhaps,  as  many  others  who 
looked  upon  the  work  as  having  the  blessing  of  the  Head 
of  the  Church. 

Two  phases  of  complaint  were  specially  obnoxious: 
one,  the  habit  of  the  revivalists  preaching  when  uninvited 


152  A     HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

by  the  pastor  within  the  bounds  of  the  latter's  parish — 
the  answer  was  the  people  heard  them  gladly.  The  other, 
the  censorious  spirit  which  characterized  the  conserva- 
tive ministers  as  unconverted;  for  this  assertion  the 
ground  seems  to  have  been  that  they  did  not  fully  coincide 
with  the  measures  of  the  revivalists. 

The  Old  Side — The  New  Side. — These  unfortunate  dif- 
ficulties obtruded  themselves,  and  a  few  good  men  were 
indiscreet,  while  others  were  harsh  in  their  judgments. 
The  opponents  of  the  work  were  characterized  as  holding 
''a  dead  orthodoxy,"  while  it  was  admitted  that  the  re- 
vivalists were  equally  orthodox,  though  they  were  spir- 
itually alive  and  vividly  imbued  with  zeal  for  the  salva- 
tion of  men — the  latter's  style  of  preaching  being  exceed- 
ingly impressive.  The  steady  conservatives  who  were 
opposed  to  any  innovations  in  the  usual  routine  manner 
of  preaching,  were  known  as  the  "Old  Side,"  and  the  fer- 
vid revivalists  as  the  "New  Side."  Thus  the  agitation 
continued  for  several  years;  meanwhile  much  bitterness 
was  evolved,  and  also  an  immense  amount  of  good  in 
spite  of  the  disturbing  elements  by  which  many  good  men 
were  carried  beyond  their  usual  Christian  demeanor. 

The  Division  of  the  Synod. — These  differences  of  opin- 
ion and  practice  finally  resulted  in  the  division  of  the 
synod,  inasmuch  as  the  "New  Side"  or  New  Brunswick 
party  and  their  sympathizers  withdrew,  thus  causing  the 
division.  The  moderate  and  conservative  in  both  "Sides" 
mourned  this  result. 

"The  New  Brunswick  party  were  zealous  for  what  they 
regarded  as  vital  evangelical  truth,  and,  in  the  over-earn- 
estness of  their  purpose,  forgot  charity  and  discretion. 
*  *  *  The  others,  indignant  under  a  sense  of  wrong, 
were  forced  to  appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  common 
standards  and  the  rules  of  the  synod,  which  their  breth- 
ren had  too  much  disregarded.    Thus  one  party  appealed 


PIETISTS REVIVALS DIVISION    AND     REUNION.  153 

to  the  word  of  God,  the  other  to  the  Confession  of  Faith. 
One,  zealous  for  the  truth,  fell  the  victim  of  its  theories ; 
the  other,  resolute  for  order,  could  see  only  the  letter  of 
the  constitution."  The  two  synods  were  therefore  consti- 
tuted (1741) — the  "Old  Side,"  known  as  the  Philadel- 
phia, and  the  "New  Side,"  as  that  of  New  York ;  though 
the  latter  did  not  take  form  till  four  years  later,  when  it 
was  duly  organized  by  union  with  the  New  Brunswick 
Presbytery  (Drs.  Gillett  and  Hodge). 

Illiberal  Sentiments. — An  incident  illustrates  the  spirit 
that  prevailed  within  the  ranks  of  the  Old  Side  during  the 
earlier  years  of  this  division.  The  Presbyterians  of  the 
valley  and  also  of  Hanover  County,  Virginia,  applied  in 
1744  to  the  New  Side,  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick, 
for  preachers,  and  the  latter  sent  them  two  evangelists, 
William  Robinson  and  William  Dean,  both  graduates  of 
Log  College.  They  traveled  through  the  region  and 
preached  with  great  success,  multitudes  flocking  to  hear 
them.  A  representative  of  the  Old  Side,  Rev.  John  Craig, 
took  oflFense  at  the  preaching  of  the  evangelists,  and  he 
appealed  to  Governor  Gooch  in  such  terms  that  the  latter 
was  induced  to  urge  the  grand  jury  of  the  colony  to  indict 
the  evangelists.  In  his  somewhat  lengthy  charge  he  char- 
acterized these  ministers  as  "false  teachers  under  the  pre- 
tended influence  of  new  light  and  such  like  fanatical 
knowledge  that  would  lead  the  innocent  and  ignorant  peo- 
ple into  all  kinds  of  delusion." 

Mr.  Craig  acted  only  as  an  individual.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem,  the  Old  Side  Synod  of  Philadelphia  the  fol- 
lowing year  sent  to  the  Governor  a  letter  of  fulsome  flat- 
tery and  of  thanks  for  this  persecuting  action,  saying  in 
part:  "It  gives  us  the  greatest  pleasure  that  we  can  as- 
sure your  honor  those  persons  never  belonged  to  our 
body,  but  were  missionaries  sent  out  by  some  who  by 
reason  of  their  divisive  and  uncharitable  doctrines  and 


154         A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

practices  were  in  May,  1741,  excluded  from  our  synod." 
This  letter  was  signed  by  the  moderator  of  the  synod,  Rev. 
Robert  Cathcart.  (Records  of  Synod,  p.  18 § — quoted; 
Am.  Pres.,  p.  2^5).  {See  p.  161.)  During  the  following 
thirteen  years  there  gradually  came  in  a  more  liberal 
spirit. 

Says  Dr.  Robert  M.  Patterson,  page.  19  of  his  Amer- 
ican Presbyterianism  (Edition  1896)  :  "The  Old  Side 
made  orthodoxy  their  shibboleth;  insisted  more  on  intel- 
lectual qualifications  and  high  education  in  the  ministry; 
were  stricter  in  presbyterial  order;  the  New  Side  placed 
more  stress  on  experimental  religion,  vital  piety  in  the  min- 
istry, and  was  more  tolerant  of  departures  from  ecclesias- 
tical strictness.  At  the  root  both  were  right;  in  practical 
conduct  and  mutual  intercourse  both  were  wrong.  The 
church  has  long  accepted  the  essential  points  for  which 
each  contended." 

Zeal  for  Religion. — The  period  of  the  division — seven- 
teen years  (i  741- 1758) — was  characterized  by  an  increase 
of  religious  influence,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  New 
Side,  who  continued  their  fervent  mode  of  preaching,  and 
which  was  followed  by  great  increase  of  communicants  in 
the  church,  and  also  in  the  number  of  young  men  who  be- 
came students  and  eventually  devoted  themselves  to  the 
ministry.  In  the  course  of  these  years  such  accessions 
were  more  than  fourfold  when  compared  with  that  of  the 
Old  Side.  The  New  York  Synod  exhibited  great  zeal  in 
supplying  destitute  fields  within  its  bounds,  and  in  conse- 
quence the  friends  of  the  revival  sympathized  with  them 
deeply.  The  Old  Side,  meanwhile,  labored  under  almost 
insurmountable  difficulties.  Their  lack  of  interest  in  the 
revivals,  if  not  their  direct  opposition,  deprived  them  of 
the  sympathy  of  great  numbers  of  ardent  Christians 
within  thei-r  own  ranks,  who,  perhaps,  were  there  from  lo- 
cation rather  than  choice.    Both  parties  established  schools 


PIETISTS REVIVALS DIVISION     AND     REUNION.  155 

for  training  candidates  for  the  sacred  office,  as  already 
noted;  out  of  one  of  these  grew  Princeton  College,  and, 
subsequently,  the  Theological  Seminary. 

The  Reunion. — During  these  seventeen  years  continued 
efforts  were  made  by  many  in  both  parties  to  bring  about 
a  reunion,  as  the  cause  of  religion  and  brotherly  love  was 
deeply  injured  by  the  contention,  which  on  the  part  of 
some  did  not  partake  to  a  large  extent  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  nor  of  the  Golden  Rule.  But 
these  asperities  were  gradually  worn  away  by  the  attrition 
of  Christian  love  and  forbearance  practiced  by  the  pru- 
dent in  both  parties,  till  the  way  was  prepared  for  a  more 
stable  union  of  the  synods  than  had  ever  existed  before. 
At  length  the  leading  minds  of  the  majority  in  both  par- 
ties were  fully  prepared  to  unite  the  synods,  and  thus  heal 
the  breach  in  the  church.  During  the  seventeen  years 
of  the  separation  there  had  been  no  virtual  deviation  on 
either  side  from  the  doctrinal  principles  on  which  the 
Adopting  Act  was  based  thirty  years  before,  and  they 
could  now  unite  consistently.  The  first  article  of  the  basis 
of  the  union  reads :  "Both  synods  having  always  ap- 
proved and  received  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith 
and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  as  an  orthodox  and 
excellent  system  of  Christian  doctrine,  founded  on  the 
word  of  God,  we  do  still  receive  the  same  as  the  con- 
fession of  our  faith."  After  a  number  of  minor  details  in 
relation  to  some  of  the  presbyteries  were  arranged,  the 
union  was  completed  (1758). 

"At  the  time  of  reunion  the  church  consisted  of  ninety- 
eight  ministers,  two  hundred  congregations,  many  preach- 
ing stations  and  ten  thousand  communicants." 

Comparative  Failure  and  Success. — These  unfortunate 
differences  of  opinions  did  not  end  here,  as  the  reader  in 
the  course  of  this  narrative  will  meet  more  than  once  with 


156         A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

antagonisms  in  the  workings  of  church  affairs  that  were 
not  harmonious  with  spiritual  progress. 

The  terms  Old  Side  and  New  Side  were  used,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  designate  two  phases  of  religious  thought 
and  action;  the  one  lacking  sympathy  with  the  progres- 
sive evangelical  work  of  the  time,  and  the  other,  in  marked 
contrast,  an  ardent  promoter  of  such  work.  Both  parties 
were  orthodox;  though  the  one  seemed  to  be  spiritually 
in  a  comatose  state,  while  the  other  appeared  to  be  spirit- 
ually vitalized. 

Immediately  after  the  division  antagonistic  feeling,  es- 
pecially on  the  part  of  the  Old  Side,  was  intensely  bitter 
and  manifested  itself  again  and  again;  but  it  gradually 
passed  away  with  the  removal  or  death  of  ten  of  the 
prime  movers.  In  consequence,  in  seventeen  years  the 
Old  Side  Synod  of  Philadelphia  gained  only  four  in  num- 
ber of  its  members — originally  twenty-six — though  four- 
teen new  ones  were  in  the  meantime  added  to  it.  Of  the 
latter  "not  a  single  one  was  a  graduate  of  an  American 
college." 

The  New  Side  Synod  of  New  York  meanwhile  in- 
creased in  numbers,  both  of  church  members  and  minis- 
ters; of  the  latter  it  had  at  first  only  twenty.  That  num- 
ber rose  to  seventy-two;  it  had  lost  eight  by  death.  The 
majority  of  these  ministers  were  graduates  either  of  Yale 
or  Princeton. 

Long  Island  Churches. — A  spontaneous  movement  of 
far-reaching  influence  was  at  this  time  in  progress  in  the 
colony  of  New  York.  The  pastors  of  a  number  of  Con- 
gregational churches  on  Long  Island  had  from  observa- 
tion "become  convinced  that  the  presbyterian  form  of 
government  was  better  adapted  for  promoting  order  and 
discipline  in  the  churches  than  the  congregational."  A 
number  of  ministers  in  Suffolk  County  held  a  conference 
at  Southampton  April  8,  1747,  for  the  purpose  of  "con- 


PIETISTS REVIVALS DIVISION    AND     REUNION.  157 

certing  measures  for  the  promotion  of  the  Great  Redeem- 
er's kingdom,  especially  within  their  own  bounds."  After 
much  prayer  for  direction,  they  adopted  "the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  of  Faith,  the  Catechisms,  Directory  for 
Worship  and  Discipline."  Then  they  organized  them- 
selves into  "the  Presbytery  of  Suffolk,"  and  appointed 
their  moderator,  Rev.  Ebenezer  Prime,  and  Rev.  Samuel 
Buel  to  attend  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  request  that 
their  newly  formed  presbytery  be  received  into  fellow- 
ship with  that  body.  The  delegates  were  cordially  re- 
ceived and  their  presbytery  was  taken  under  the  care  of 
the  synod.  Soon  afterward,  for  the  most  part,  the  other 
Congregational  churches  on  the  island  united  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church.     (The  Prime  Family,  pp.  28,  2p.) 

The  Two  Records. — The  "Old  Side"  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia put  itself  on  record  as  inimical  to  the  revivals  that 
had  been  in  progress  for  a  year  or  two  in  Virginia  and 
even  further  south,  under  the  auspices  of  the  "New  Side" 
Synod  of  New  York.  The  latter  took  measures  in  1744 
and  years  succeeding  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  Pres- 
byterians of  that  region  to  send  devoted  ministers  to 
preach  for  them.  The  result  was  revivals  of  religion,  not 
only  in  Virginia,  but  in  North  Carolina,  laid  a  firm  foun- 
dation for  Presbyterianism  in  these  two  colonies. 

There  was  quite  a  discrepancy  in  the  progress  of  the 
two  "Sides,"  especially  toward  the  latter  portion  of  the 
seventeen  years  of  the  separation.  At  first  the  Old  Side 
in  some  respects  had  greatly  the  advantage,  though  it 
failed  lamentably  in  its  lack  of  interest  in  the  revivals  then 
in  progress,  and  which  had  grown  out  of  the  measures  and 
preaching  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  the  Tennents  and 
George  Whitefield.  "The  Old  Side  had  the  prestige  of  the 
historic  succession  and  the  possession  of  the  funds  of  the 
church,  *  *  *  thgy  made  no  adequate  provision  for 
training  a  native  ministry ;  they  reacted  into  a  barren  ec- 


158         A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

clesiasticism  and  traditional  formalism;  they  set  them- 
selves in  opposition  to  the  active  forces  of  the  age,  and 
they  accordingly  found  it  as  difficult  to  secure  fresh  sup- 
plies of  ministers  as  to  enlarge  their  churches  by  con- 
verts." 

Rev.  Elisha  Spencer,  a  Presbyterian  pastor  at  Jamaica, 
L.  I.,  in  a  letter  dated  Nov.  3,  1759,  the  year  after  the  re- 
union, states  that  the  whole  number  of  dissenting  minis- 
ters in  the  Middle  colonies  was  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three,  while  there  were  only  sixteen  Church  of  England 
ministers  in  the  colonies  of  New  York,  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania.  "It  is  clear  that  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  three  latter  colonies  were  over- 
whelmingly Presbyterian."  {Amer.  Pres.,  pp.  2^4-2^6; 
313-316.) 


XIX. 

The  Separation  of  Church  and  State  in  Virginia. 

The  history  of  this  contest  deserves  special  notice,  as  it 
was  the  most  severe  struggle  in  the  annals  of  the  Amer- 
ican Presbyterian  Church  in  behalf  of  religious  free- 
dom ;  for  during  the  eventful  period  of  the  Revolution  it 
was  the  only  phase  of  its  history  outside  the  usual  rou- 
tine of  its  regular  church  duties. 

In  a  relation  so  intimate  as  that  of  the  union  of  Church 
and  State,  it  is  not  strange  that  in  former  times  civil  mag- 
istrates should  have  had  a  sense  of  responsibility  not  only 
pertaining  to  the  people's  temporal  affairs,  but  also  in  re- 
spect to  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  In  regard  to  the  latter 
phase  of  their  duties,  though  unable  to  define  it  clearly, 
it  is  evident  that  in  the  performance  of  their  official  acts 
in  matters  relating  to  the  people  and  the  church,  they  were 
more  or  less  influenced  by  a  sense  of  this  responsibility. 
Here  is  the  germ  from  which  has  sprung,  and  often  hon- 
estly, much  of  the  interference  of  temporal  rulers  with 
church  affairs.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  willingly 
or  otherwise  contributed  aid  in  the  form  of  taxes  to  the 
support  of  the  church,  wished  to  have  a  share  in  the  ad- 
vantages of  its  ordinances;  and,  though  they  might  not 
be  Christians  in  a  Scriptural  sense,  and  could  not  fully 
comprehend  their  relationship  to  a  church  spiritual,  they 
deemed  themselves  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  partici- 
pating in  its  rites,  including  that  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Thus,  even  in  the  present  day,  where  there  is  a  union  of 
Church  and  State,  in  such  relation  that  the  former  re- 


l6o  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ceives  pecuniary  aid  from  the  latter,  we  see  a  great  laxity 
in  the  admission  of  persons  to  that  sacred  ordinance. 
Much  more  in  former  times,  if  there  were  any  advan- 
tages to  be  gained  in  coming  to  the  communion  table,  this 
class  wished  to  secure  them,  since  they  paid  their  share 
of  the  expense.  This  was  a  natural,  though  a  groveling 
view  of  the  question,  and  the  more  intelligent  of  the  un- 
converted had  evidently  misgivings  on  the  subject,  and, 
not  being  satisfied  with  their  own  moral  condition,  par- 
took of  the  communion  with  a  confused  sense,  that  it 
might  in  some  way  benefit  them  spiritually. 

The  Half-way  Covenant. — The  influences  that  in  pro- 
cess of  time  brought  about  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State  in  this  country  may  be  traced  to  the  preaching  of 
Jonathan  Edwards  and  to  the  principles  developed  in  his 
controversy  in  respect  to  what  was  termed  the  "Half- 
way Covenant,"  by  which  persons  making  no  pretension  to 
being  Christians  in  a  spiritual  sense  were  admitted,  among 
other  church  privileges,  to  the  communion.  This  custom 
grew  out  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  more  than 
from  any  other  cause.  The  objections  of  Edwards  were 
based  on  moral  and  spiritual  grounds  alone ;  arguing  that 
none  but  the  regenerate  or  converted  had  a  right  to  come 
to  the  Lord's  table.  In  time  this  truth  permeated  the 
minds  of  religious  people,  but  more  effectually,  it  would 
seem,  the  Presbyterians  than  the  Congregationalists ;  hav- 
ing its  share  of  influence  on  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State  in  Virginia,  nearly  forty  years  before  a  similar  effect 
was  produced  in  New  England.  This  phase  of  the  sub- 
ject for  obvious  reasons  was  scarcely  noticed  in  the  de- 
bates in  the  legislature  during  the  struggle  in  Virginia, 
though  in  that  controversy  the  undercurrent  of  this  sen- 
timent influenced  the  minds  of  the  religious  people  out- 
side the  State  or  Episcopal  Church,  and  strengthened  their 
opposition  to  such  laxity  in  the  admission  of  persons  to 


Rev.   Eliphalet  Nott,  D.  D. 
(238,  247,  269,  305,  441.) 


THE    SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE.  l6l 

church  privileges,  which  custom  they  beheved  to  be  inju- 
rious to  pure  spiritual  religion. 

In  his  early  ministry  Jonathan  Edwards  was  the  pastor 
of  a  Presbyterian  church  in  New  York  City,  and  he  seems 
to  have  been  partial  to  the  form  of  church  government 
practised  in  that  denomination ;  and,  also,  he  agreed  with 
their  views  on  the  non-interference  of  the  civil  magistrate 
with  spiritual  affairs.  He  afterward  expressed  his  opinion 
of  the  form  of  church  rule  then  prevalent  in  New  Eng- 
land, saying :  "I  have  long  been  out  of  conceit  of  our  un- 
settled, independent,  confused  way  of  church  govern- 
ment in  this  land."  On  assuming  the  presidency  of 
Princeton  College  he  connected  himself  with  the  Presby- 
terians. 

Up  to  the  time  of  Edwards  there  seems  to  have  been 
little  doubt  as  to  the  advantage  to  both  parties  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State;  the  prevailing  sentiment  be- 
ing that  the  former  could  not  be  supported  without  the  aid 
of  the  latter.  The  idea  of  sustaining  the  church  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  its  own  friends  had  found  lodg- 
ment only  in  the  minds  of  the  advanced  few.  We  see 
prominent  among  the  arguments  used  in  behalf  of  this  al- 
liance that  the  church  ought  to  be  supported  by  the  secu- 
lar power,  on  the  ground  of  the  general  well-being  of  so- 
ciety, as  its  influence  would  promote  in  the  community 
honesty,  industry  and  material  interests  as  well  as  good 
morals.  Under  the  influence  of  the  preaching  of  Edwards 
the  indefinable  responsibility  once  attributed  to  the  civil 
magistrate  in  relation  to  spiritual  matters  was  seen  to  be 
unscriptural,  and  instead  that  responsibility  was  shown 
to  belong  to  the  individuals  alone. 

JVhy  the  Harsh  Intolerance  in  Virginia. — It  is  proper 
to  notice  why  the  contest  in  Virginia  partook  so  much  of 
bitterness,  and  why  the  "dissenters"  were  treated  so  harsh- 
ly in  that  colony.    We  can  thereby  divine  why  these  out- 


l62  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

rages,  continuing  for  nearly  a  century,  produced  their 
legitimate  results  in  the  final  retribution  which  came  upon 
the  established  church,  when  it  retained  only  its  church 
buildings,  while  its  rectories  and  globes  were  sold  under 
the  sheriff's  hammer  for  the  benefit  of  that  public  from 
whom  originally  nearly  all  the  funds  to  purchase  them 
had  been  extorted  in  the  form  of  taxes  or  tithes.  The 
Church  of  England  was  established  by  law  in  the  colonies 
of  New  York,  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  about  1692.  In 
the  first,  the  royal  governors  were  the  most  intolerant  to- 
ward "dissenters,"  while  the  churchmen,  or  its  adherents, 
were  more  indifferent  on  the  subject.  Perhaps  they  were 
somewhat  influenced  by  their  surroundings — the  tolerant 
spirit  of  the  Dutch  residents — and,  moreover,  the  Epis- 
copal element  in  that  colony  did  not  comprise,  it  is  said, 
more  than  one-seventh  of  the  population.  In  the  latter 
three,  on  the  contrary,  intolerance  was  instigated  for  the 
greater  part  by  the  clergy  and  lay  churchmen,  the  gov- 
ernors being  disposed  to  connive  at  the  exercise  of  re- 
ligious freedom;  that  is,  they  were  not  very  energetic  in 
enforcing  the  illiberal  laws  on  that  subject.  Why  the 
churchmen  of  Virginia  were  so  in  contrast  with  those  of 
New  York  may  be  accounted  for,  since  great  numbers  of 
Royalists — Cavaliers — in  the  times  of  the  troubles  pre- 
ceding and  during  the  Commonwealth  fled  to  Virginia, 
where  they  were  cordially  welcomed.  They  afterward 
gave  tone  to  Virginian  society  by  diffusing  their  senti- 
ments of  loyalty  to  the  king  and  to  the  church,  which  so 
ardently  espoused  his  cause;  they  looked  upon  the  "dis- 
senters" as  enemies  to  both. 

The  "Vagrants"  in  Conn£cticut  and  New  York. — In 
those  days  the  spirit  of  intolerance  was  not  found  in  the 
established  church  nor  in  royal  governors  alone,  as  it 
was  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  union  of  Church  and 
State  and  the  misdirected  zeal  of  secular  rulers.     In  1742 


THE     SEPARATION     OF    CHURCH    AND     STATE.  163 

the  Connecticut  legislature  passed  a  law  forbidding  a 
minister  preaching  in  any  parish  except  the  one  over  which 
he  had  special  charge,  unless  by  invitation  of  the  settled 
minister  or  a  majority  of  the  congregation.  Ministers  not 
residents  of  the  colony  thus  preaching  were  to  be  arrested 
as  common  vagrants.  Under  the  latter  law  Rev.  Samuel 
Finley,  afterward  President  of  Princeton  College,  and 
others  were  driven  from  the  colony,  being  characterized  as 
"strolling  preachers  that  were  most  disorderly."  These 
vagrants  were  Presbyterian  clergymen,  and  no  doubt  such 
high-handed  measures  roused  in  them  an  antagonism  to 
the  union  of  Church  and  State.  In  consequence  of  these 
proceedings  and  the  experience  of  Presbyterians  in  the 
colony  of  New  York,  this  antagonism  spread  among  that 
class  of  Christians  in  the  Middle  colonies  and  further 
south. 

The  Presbyterians  had  been  specially  annoyed  in  their 
earlier  days  when  struggling  for  existence  as  a  religious 
denomination,  both  in  New  York  and  Virginia,  by  the 
intolerance  of  the  Church  of  England.  They  associated 
the  state  as  the  immediate  power  behind  the  persecution ; 
though  the  latter,  as  it  was  well  known,  was  frequently 
urged  to  this  course  of  action  by  the  clergy  of  the  estab- 
lishment. "For  many  years,"  says  a  chronicler  of  the 
times,  "in  New  York,  Maryland,  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina,  the  growth  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was 
checked  by  persecution  and  intolerance." 

Illihfral  Laws  in  Virginia. — The  laws  were  grievous 
and  illiberal  in  Virginia — more  severe  than  in  any  other 
colony.  The  established  churches  were  built  at  the  pub- 
lic expense  in  each  county  town,  or  where  there  was  a 
court-house,  thus  occupying  the  positions  of  influence, 
and  the  "sects,"  or  "dissenters,"  as  they  were  contempt- 
uously called  by  self-complacent  churchmen,  were  com- 
pelled to  locate  their  church  buildings  elsewhere.      For 


164  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

three-fourths  of  a  century  rigid  laws  had  been  enforced 
against  those'  who  did  not  conform.  It  is  said  that  until 
the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  there  was  not  a  Pres- 
byterian or  Baptist  church  building  in  a  village  in  Vir- 
ginia, yet  the  ministers  of  the  former  denomination  were 
by  far  the  most  learned  of  any  class  of  preachers  in  the 
colony.  The  rule  of  the  presbyteries  of  that  church  was 
then,  as  it  is  to-day,  to  license  only  those  to  preach  who 
have  been  classically  and  theologically  educated,  unless 
under  extraordinary  circumstances. 

Though  "dissenters"  were  permitted  to  have  church 
buildings  only  outside  the  towns,  and  even  to  have  these, 
unless  under  annoying  restrictions,  they  were  sometimes 
denied,  they  were,  however,  graciously  warned  by  the  civil 
authorities  to  ''take  the  oaths  enjoined  and  to  register  the 
places  of  their  meetings,  and  behave  themselves  peacea- 
bly toward  the  government."  This  discourteous  language 
was  used  in  respect  to  those  Presbyterians  who,  among 
other  reasons,  in  order  to  avoid  the  annoyances  to  which 
they  would  be  subjected  in  the  eastern  portion  of  Vir- 
ginia, migrated  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  back  part  of 
that  colony  and  settled  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Shen- 
andoah and  other  streams  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  As 
long  as  these  settlers  served  as  a  protection  against  hos- 
tile Indians  they  were  unmolested,  and  were  permitted 
to  have  meeting-houses  where  they  pleased.  In  time  Ger- 
mans and  Quakers,  also  from  Pennsylvania,  and  for  the 
same  reasons,  perhaps,  migrated  thither;  thus  increasing 
the  number  of  the  inhabitants  as  well  as  the  thrift  of  the 
several  communities.  When  these  settlements  had  grown 
in  population  and  prospered,  the  establishment  wished  to 
occupy  the  ground,  and  accordingly  the  colonial  authori- 
ties compelled  these  "backwoods  dissenters"  to  pay  taxes 
in  order  to  build  edifices  for  the  established  church,  and 
to  support  incumbents  when  there  were  very  few  of  that 


THE     SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE.  1 65 

deflomination  in  the  region.  The  first  settlers  here  pos- 
sessed remarkable  worldly  as  well  as  church-militant  qual- 
ities; they  being  for  the  most  part  Scotch  and  Scotch- 
Irish.  These  characteristics  developed  themselves  when 
the  attempt  was  made  to  carry  this  law  into  effect. 

Freedom  from  Ecclesiastical  Clannishness. — The  Pres- 
byterians did  not  come  as  a  body  to  this  country  to  form 
isolated  settlements,  as  did  the  Puritans  in  Nevv^  England, 
the  Dutch  in  New  York,  the  Quakers  in  Pennsylvania 
and  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Maryland.  When  persecuted 
in  England,  they  preferred,  rather  than  emigrate  in  a 
body,  "to  struggle  for  liberty  at  home;  a  struggle  which 
eventually  was  crowned  with  success"  {Dr.  Charles 
Hodge,  pp.  ip,  20).  This  may  account  for  the  fact  that 
they  were  so  free  from  a  clannish  ecclesiasticism ;  though 
strong  in  their  opinions,  they  fell  in  with  the  religious 
people  of  the  colonies  and  promoted  the  cause  without 
arrogating  to  themselves  any  special  preeminence.  They 
held  that  Jesus  Christ  had  established  a  form  of  govern- 
ment for  the  church  "distinct  from  the  civil  authority." 
When  parliament,  in  accordance  with  "the  English  idea 
that  the  church  of  any  denomination  was  the  creation  of 
the  state,"  abolished  Episcopacy  and  established  Presby- 
terianism,  the  latter  church,  as  such,  had  nothing  to  do 
with  that  action;  and,  on  the  same  principle,  they  were 
opposed  to  any  interference  ivhatever  in  spiritual  mat- 
ters by  the  civil  magistrate.  "When  the  arbitrary  meas- 
ures of  Charles  I.  drove  the  English  nation  into  rebellion, 
the  partisans  of  the  Court  were  Episcopalians ;  the  oppo- 
site party  was,  or  became  in  the  main,  Presbyterian"  {Dr. 
Hodg£,  p.  2j).  These  were  their  traditions,  and,  true  to 
their  influence,  the  Presbyterians  harmonized  with  the 
other  denominations  in  the  colonies  in  the  effort  of  spread- 
ing the  gospel,  irrespective  of  the  patronage  or  opposi' 
tion  of  the  civil  authorities. 


l66         A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Grades  of  Ministerial  Education. — In  the  earlier  days 
of  Virginia  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  was  estab- 
lished ostensibly  "to  educate  a  domestic  succession  of 
Church  of  England  ministers,"  as  well  as  to  teach  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Indians.  But  for  nearly  a  half-century  preced- 
ing the  time  of  which  we  write,  the  education  of  native 
clergymen  was  rather  discouraged  than  otherwise.  There 
was,  in  truth,  no  special  inducement  for  pious  young  men 
to  qualify  themselves  for  the  sacred  office,  as  so  many  of 
the  ministers  in  the  established  church  in  the  colony  were 
from  England.  The  latter  were  appointed  by  the  home 
government  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  to  whose  diocese 
the  colonies  were  assigned,  and  who  ordained  them,  as 
there  was  no  bishop  in  America  till  after  the  Revolution. 

Meanwhile,  the  "dissenters,"  and  notably  the  Presbyte- 
rians, were  making  strenuous  efforts  to  educate  young 
men  for  the  sacred  office.  Early  in  the  eighteenth  century 
the  latter  established  schools  to  educate  young  men  for 
the  ministry,  and  persistently  refused  to  license  any  to 
preach  who  had  not  a  classical  and  theological  training, 
knowing  that  the  influence  of  an  educated  ministry 
must  ever  be  beneficial.  In  1748  it  was  proposed  in  the 
Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia — then  the  highest 
judicature  in  the  church — to  relax  the  demands  for  the 
classical,  literary  and  theological  qualifications  of  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry.  This  proposition  was  voted  down 
by  a  large  majority.  Instead  of  diminishing  the  time  as- 
signed for  such  preparation,  the  synod,  as  if  to  be  em- 
phatic, added  another  year  to  the  prescribed  course  of 
study  for  their  theological  students.  This  same  spirit 
influences  the  Presbyterians  of  to-day  as  much  as  it  did 
those  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  They 
now  excel  all  others  in  the  number  of  their  theological 
seminaries  and  in  the  richness  of  their  endowments.  This 
strictness  in  demanding  a  thoroughly  educated  ministry 


THE    SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE.  1 67 

has  had  a  marked  effect  in  raising  the  plane  of  general 
intelligence  among  the  private  members  of  their  denom- 
ination. 

Says  Benedict  in  his  history  of  the  Baptists  of  that  day 
in  Virginia:  "Their  preachers  were  without  learning, 
without  patronage,  generally  very  poor,  plain  in  their 
dress,  unrefined  in  their  manners,  and  awkward  in  iheir 
address."  Dr.  Foote,  when  writing  of  the  same  period 
in  his  sketches  of  Virginia  (p.  375)  says:  Though  gen- 
erally without  education,  "the  zealous  Baptist  ministers, 
with  all  the  energy  of  oxcited  spirits  inflamed  by  their 
contemplation  of  divine  truth  and  visions  of  the  spiritual 
world,"  preached  and  labored,  and  by  their  fervid  exhorta- 
tions, multitudes  were  brought  to  believe  and  be  sived. 
Dr.  Robert  Baird,  in  his  "Religion  in  America,"  makes  a 
similar  statement,  both  as  to  their  education  and  their 
zeal.  The  ministers  of  this  denomination,  especially  in 
the  earlier  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century,  suffered 
more  in  Virginia  from  harsh  treatment  than  the  other 
preachers.  Their  comparative  lack  of  education  may 
have  been  the  occasion  of  their  being  treated  so  contempt- 
uously by  the  establishment  and  the  civil  authorities. 
Oftentimes,  when  imprisoned  for  proclaiming  the  Gospel 
in  their  way,  they  preached  to  the  sympathizing  people 
from  the  grated  windows  of  the  jails  in  which  they  were 
confined.  Let  their  unflinching  Christian  zeal  and  self- 
denial  be  honored  and  emulated  ! 

Severe  Conflicts — The  Act  of  Toleration. — Previous  to 
the  time  of  which  we  write  occurred  many  struggles  be- 
tween the  dissenters  and  the  civil  authorities,  because  of 
the  intolerance  of  the  latter.  These  controversies  contin- 
ued for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century,  and,  by  eliciting 
discussion,  prepared  the  minds  of  intelligent  people  for 
the  grand  result — the  separation  of  Church  and  State.  In 
Hanover  County — "the  birthplace  of  Presbyterianism  in 


1 68  A    HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Eastern  Virginia" — were  several  churches  of  that  denomi- 
nation, and  here  labored  and  preached  the  celebrated  Sam- 
uel Davies.  (See  XV.)  His  ministrations  were  inter- 
fered with  by  the  Governor  and  Council;  they  being  urged 
on  by  the  clergy  of  the  establishment.  On  one  occasion 
the  matter  came  before  the  General  Court,  when  Davies 
argued  with  great  force  and  eloquence  in  opposition  to 
Peyton  Randolph,  the  king's  attorney.  Davies  con- 
tended that  the  English  "Act  of  Toleration"  applied  to  the 
relief  of  dissenters  in  Virginia  as  well  as  to  the  same  class 
in  England.  He  won,  by  his  eloquence  and  learned  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  religious  freedom,  the  admiration  of  the 
better  portion  of  his  opponents,  who  complimented  h™  by 
saying  he  "was  a  good  lawyer  spoiled."  The  Presby- 
terian ministers  in  Virginia,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  were 
careful  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  Toleration 
Act,  in  obtaining  licenses  before  they  began  to  preach. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  not  one  charge,  in  this  respect, 
of  improper  conduct  on  the  part  of  their  ministers  was 
ever  even  intimated  against  them  by  their  bitterest  ene- 
mies— the  clergy  and  vestrymen  of  the  established  church. 
The  Presbyterians  determined  to  test  the  question  further, 
and  when  Davies  afterward  went  to  England  to  solicit 
funds  for  Princeton  College  they  authorized  him  to 
bring  the  case  before  the  King  in  Council.  He  did  so, 
and  obtained  the  decision  that  the  Act  of  Toleration  did 
apply  to  the  colony  of  Virginia  (1748).  In  consequence 
of  this  decision,  the  General  Court  of  the  colony  permitted 
the  Presbyterians  to  establish  three  new  places  for  preach- 
ing. These  church  buildings  were  twelve  or  fifteen  miles 
apart.  Under  the  circumstances  this  concession  was  an 
immense  gain,  and  it  was  obtained  by  the  perseverance 
and  learning  of  the  ministers  belonging  to  the  Hanover 
Presbytery.  The  other  denominations — Baptists  and 
Quakers — were  deeply  interested  and  did  all  they  could  to 


THE     SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH    AND     STATE.  1 69 

promote  the  cause  of  religious  toleration  by  petition'?,  but 
the  Presbyterians  had  the  boldness  to  demand  religious 
freedom  as  a  natural  right,  and  to  argue  the  question  be- 
fore the  civil  courts,  or  vvith  the  legislature,  and,  after  a 
long  struggle,  secured  the  ultimate  result  in  the  separation 
of  Church  and  State.  This  was  the  legitimate  effect  of 
their  being  able  to  enforce  their  own  arguments  and  refute 
those  of  their  opponents. 

Efforts  to  Reform  Clerical  Morals. — In  no  country 
where  the  union  of  Church  and  State  existed,  did  the  civil 
authorities  ever  appear  to  have  clear  conceptions  of  that 
religious  liberty  which  s  rises  from  the  spiritual  condi- 
tion of  man.  The  magistrates,  from  their  official  acts, 
seem  to  have  had  only  a  dim  perception  of  that  all-impor- 
tant qualification  of  a  preacher  of  the  gosptl — a 
change  of  heart,  or  to  be  a  Christian.  It  is  not  unreason- 
able to  suppose  the  main  cause  of  this  has  been  that  i"hey, 
themselves,  for  the  greater  part,  were,  individually, 
strangers  to  spiritual  reiigion.  No  matter  how  pure  in 
their  private  life,  and  evangelical  in  doctrine  preachers 
were,  these  essential  qualifications  were  oftentimes  un- 
recognized by  the  secular  rulers  in  appointing  them  to 
parishes.  The  prevalence  of  these  deficiencies  was  one  of 
the  objections  alleged  against  the  clergy  of  the  established 
church  in  Virginia  at  a  much  earlier  period  than  that  of 
which  we  write.  Sir  William  Berkeley — that  staunch 
churchman — complained,  nearly  a  century  before  the  final 
struggle  began,  when  writing  of  the  clergy,  that  "as  of 
all  commodities  so  of  this — the  worst  are  sent  us — and  we 
have  few  that  we  can  boast  of."  The  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia found  it  necessary  to  prescribe  by  law  certain  nega- 
tive qualifications  of  a  mmister  of  the  established  church. 
"He  was  not  to  give  himself  to  excess  in  drinking  or  riot, 
and  spending  his  time  idly  by  day  or  night;  but  to  hear 
or  read  the  Holy  Scriptures,  catechise  the  children  and 
13 


1 7©         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

visit  the  sick."  A  writer  states  that  "many  clergymen  of 
profligate  lives  had  found  a  home  in  these  unfornmate 
colonies,  and  found  impunity  in  crime  from  the  want  of  a 
power  able  to  correct  them."  These  evils  were  so  glaring, 
that  it  was  assumed  that  those  sent  to  the  colonies  as 
clergymen  were  not  exemplary  Christians,  and  the  evil 
was  not  limited  to  Virginia,  as  it  was  enjoined  that  "on 
the  arrival  of  any  ship  in  the  waters  of  Maryland,  the 
nearest  clergyman  [of  the  church]  was  to  make  inquiry 
whether  any  minister  was  on  board,  and,  if  so,  what  his 
demeanor  had  been  upon  the  voyage."  The  clergy  them- 
selves complain  (1755)  that  "so  few  from  the  two  Uni- 
versities (Oxford  and  Cambridge)  came  to  the  colony," 
and  that  "so  many  who  are  a  disgrace  to  the  ministry  find 
opportuities  to  fill  parishes"  (Dr.  Haivks,  Vol.  I.,  p.  117^ 
and  Vol.  II.,  pp.  80-101).  At  a  still  later  day  it  was 
charged  that  "these  gentlemen  clergy  spent  much  of  their 
lime  fox-hunting  and  aping  the  sports  of  the  aristocracy 
at  home,  and  in  company  with  the  more  dissolute  of  their 
parishioners."  Says  Bishop  Meade  {Vol.  I.,  p.  10)  :  "It 
is  a  well-established  fact,  that  some  who  were  discarded 
from  the  English  church  yet  obtained  livings  in  Virginia." 
As  these  ministers  were  appointed  by  the  civil  govern- 
ment, their  theological  education  and  their  moral  worth 
were  not  scrutinized  as  they  should  have  been.  These 
deficiencies  had  much  influence  in  forming  a  sentiment 
by  no  means  favorable  to  the  clergy  of  the  establishment 
in  the  minds  of  the  truly  religious,  not  only  among  "dis- 
senters," but  among  the  same  class  of  churchmen  them- 
selves; and  a  tacit  protest  existed  against  a  system  that 
permitted  men  of  such  character  to  enter  upon  the  sacred 
office.  It  must  not  be  inferred  from  these  statements  that 
there  were  no  excellent  Christian  men  in  the  establishment, 
who  labored  faithfully  in  their  parochial  duties ;  especially 
could  this  be  said  of  the  native-born. 


THE    SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE.  171 

It  has  been  charged  that  on  the  part  of  the  "dissenters" 
there  was  an  unwarranted  hostiHty  toward  the  estabhsh- 
ment.  The  Presbyterians  found  no  fault  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  England  as  set  forth  in  her  Articles, 
nor  did  they  with  her  mode  of  worship  or  government,  as 
her  own  members  preferred.  They  demanded  for  them- 
selves the  same  religious  privileges  that  they  were  willing 
to  concede  to  other  denominations,  but  they  denied  most 
emphatically  the  right  of  a  legislature  to  interfere,  in  any 
marner  whatever,  with  "the  spiritual  concerns  of  re- 
ligion." Said  the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies :  "Had  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel  been  solemnly  and  faithfully  preached 
in  the  established  church,  I  am  persuaded  there  would 
have  been  few  'dissenters'  in  these  parts  of  Virginia,  for 
their  first  (main)  objections  were  not  against  her  peculiar 
rites  and  ceremonies,  and  much  less  against  her  excellent 
Articles." 

Preachers  Appointed  by  the  Crown. — It  was  a  griev- 
ance of  which  intelligent  Christian  churchmen  themselves 
complained,  that  their  preachers  were  appointed  by  the 
Crown  without  reference  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  the 
parish.  In  Virginia  and  Maryland  the  vestries  might  pre- 
sent or  recommend  a  preacher  who  had  not  been  thus  ap- 
pointed, but  even  then  the  governor  had  the  absolute  right 
of  inducting  or  putting  him  in  actual  possession.  Under 
the  more  liberal  system  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State 
in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  the  churches  were 
built  where  needed  and  the  money  raised  from  the  whole 
people  of  the  town  or  district,  who  voted  the  amount  and 
taxed  themselves  to  pay  it.  The  minister  was  chosen  by 
the  members  of  the  church,  and  in  consequence  he  was 
acceptable  to  the  majority,  and,  if  not,  he  could  be  changed 
for  another;  but,  as  a  general  rule,  he  remained  for  life  or 
during  a  long  pastorate.     This  was  quite  in  contrast  with 


172         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  arbitrary  system  that  obtained  in  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land. 

The  English  Church  Established — When?  —  The 
Church  of  England  was  established  in  Maryland  by  the 
act  of  King  William  in  1692,  and  in  North  Carolina  fifteen 
years  later;  the  population  being  composed  of  "Pres- 
byterians, Independents,  Quakers,  and  other  evil-disposed 
persons."  This,  it  was  said,  was  accomplished  by  a  legis- 
lature illegally  chosen.  The  taxes  imposed  in  conse- 
quence roused  a  bitter  feeling  in  the  minds  of  the  "dis- 
senters," who  by  the  same  legislature  were  deprived  of 
many  of  iheir  civil  rights;  the  latter  were  not  recovered 
until  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  The  same  church  was 
established  in  South  Carolina  in  1704  by  a  majority  of  one 
vote  in  the  legislature,  while  two-thirds  of  the  population 
were  "dissenters."  Meanwhile  it  had  been  established  in 
the  colony  of  New  York  (1693),  and  was  supported  by 
taxes  from  all  the  people  in  proportion  to  their  wealth, 
though  seven-tenths  of  them  were  not  in  sympathy  with 
the  favored  denomination.  In  New  Jersey  special  favor 
was  asked  for  the  Church  of  England,  but  was  never  fully 
granted,  and  in  this  anomalous  condition  it  remained  till 
the  Revolution.  There  was  never  any  union  of  Church 
and  State  in  Pennsylvania.  This  freedom  from  annoy- 
ance may  account  somewhat  for  the  rapid  progress  made 
in  the  growth  of  Presbyterianism  in  these  two  colonies. 

Influence  of  an  Educated  Ministry. — The  comparatively 
superior  education  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  gave 
them  a  commanding  influence  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsyl- 
vania as  well  as  in  Virginia  and  in  the  Carolinas.  Their 
zeal  and  name  were  identified  with  the  movements  lead- 
ing to  more  religious  freedom,  particularly  during  the 
period  from  the  close  of  the  French  war  (1763)  till  the 
commencement  of  the  Revolution.  For  years  they  had 
been  ardently   inculcating  these  principles   in  the  back 


THE    SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH    AND     STATE.  I73 

counties  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and,  in  the  end, 
prepared  the  minds  of  their  hearers  to  issue  the  famed 
Mecklenburg  Declaration  (May  ii,  1775).  In  the  con- 
vention which  issued  it  were  several  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters and  elders.  This  influence  had  already  been  recog- 
nized in  England,  and  the  threat  was  often  made  by  the 
"church  party"  that  "bishops  should  be  settled  in  Amer- 
ica in  spite  of  all  the  Presbyterian  opposition."  The  ob- 
jections of  the  latter,  as  often  explained,  were  not  against 
bishops  in  their  spiritual  character,  but  in  the  temporal 
power  inherent  in  an  established  church,  as  then  existing 
in  England  and  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.  They  be- 
lieved that  civil  and  religious  liberty  should  go  hand  in 
hand,  but  saw  the  reverse  of  this  in  "Lords  spiritual" 
being  supported  to  a  great  extent  by  the  hard  earnings  of 
those  who  did  not  sympathize  with  the  ritual  and  doc- 
trines of  the  established  church. 

Conflicts  in  Respect  to  Salaries. — During  this  period 
there  were  frequent  contentions  between  the  Virginia  as- 
sembly and  the  clergy  of  the  establishment  in  respect  to 
the  latter's  salaries  and  their  payment.  This  unseemly 
contest  alienated  more  or  less  the  public  sympathy  from 
the  latter.  A  law  of  Maryland  demanded  a  poll-tax  of 
"forty  pounds  of  tobacco"  for  the  benefit  of  the  clergy, 
but  did  not  specify  the  quality  of  the  article  in  which  it 
was  to  be  paid.  Many  of  the  planters  manifested  their 
view  of  the  justice  of  the  law  by  furnishing  the  full 
weight,  but  of  a  villainous  quality  of  tobacco.  One  of 
these  contests  in  Virginia  was  the  famous  "Parson's 
case,"  1763,  in  which  Patrick  Henry  performed  a  part  so 
important. 

A  Great  Principle  Established. — In  the  earlier  colonial 
days  the  "dissenters"  contented  themselves  with  protest- 
ing against  the  infringement  of  their  rights  as  citizens  and 
the  burdens  imposed  upon  them  in  the  form  of  tithes  or 


174         A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

taxes  by  ihe  colonial  authorities;  oftentimes,  as  they  be- 
lieved, at  the  instigation  of  the  clergy  of  the  established 
church.  The  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  and  Quakers  all 
chafed  under  this  tyranny,  that  compelled  them  to  aid  in 
supporting  a  church  whose  system  they  did  not  approve. 
These  annoyances — manv  of  them  by  no  means  petty — led 
finally  to  one  of  the  most  interesting  episodes  in  our  his- 
tory; the  struggle  to  separate  Church  and  State  in  Vir- 
ginia. This  contest  really  lasted  about  twelve  years,  from 
1773  to  1786,  covering  more  than  the  entire  period  of  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  and  within  two  years  of  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  Owing  to 
the  stirring  times  of  which  it  was  contemporary,  this  re- 
markable movement  has  been  overshadowed  and  has  not 
received  the  attention  which  its  importance  deserves.  To 
establish  the  principle  of  supporting  the  gospel  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  cf  its  oivn  friends,  was  as  unique 
in  sustaining  the  church  as  two  years  afterward  was  the 
anomaly  in  history  of  founding  a  republic  composed  of 
States  independent  in  the  administration  of  their  own  af- 
fairs, and  yet  under  a  united  national  government.  In 
each  case  it  was  the  application  of  great  principles,  and 
both  have  been  equally  successful. 


XX. 

Separation  of  Church  and  State  Continued. 

The  Struggle  Begins — The  Memorial. — This  contest 
assumed  tangible  form  in  October,  1776,  though  three 
years  before  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  began  the  agita- 
tion in  respect  to  church  privileges  or  religious  rights  by 
appointing  commissioners  to  lay  the  matter  before  the 
Virginia  Assembly,  but  "nothing  was  done  in  the  assem- 
bly that  year  to  remedy  the  disabilities  of  'dissenters.'  " 
The  commissioners  took  action  on  the  subject  during  the 
two  following  years,  but  with  a  similar  result.  The  Pres- 
byterians were  thus  the  first  in  taking  measures  to  secure 
the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  nor  did  they  desist  till 
the  end  was  accomplished  twelve  years  afterward. 

When  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  made,  the 
ground  was  changed,  and,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Hanover — which  was  organized  in  1755 — 
after  July  4,  1776,  that  body  memoralized  the  legislature 
or  House  of  Assembly  to  dissolve  the  union  of  Church  and 
State,  and  thus  leave  the  support  of  the  gospel  to  its  own 
friends.  This  memorial  discussed  the  principles  on 
which  they  demanded  the  separation.  Their  arguments 
were  not  successfully  controverted,  and  their  cogency  in 
the  end  compelled  the  assembly  to  comply  with  the  de- 
mand. The  memorial  showed  that  such  union  conflicted 
with  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  on  which,  as  the  Magna 
Charta  of  the  commonwealth,  all  the  privileges  and  rights 
of  the  people,  both  civil  and  religious,  depend ;  that  in  the 
frontier  countids  in    the  valley  of    the    Shenandoah,  in 


176  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

which  region  were  very  few  Episcopalians  to  aid  in  bear- 
ing the  expense,  those  not  in  communion  with  the  estab- 
lishment were  compelled  by  law  to  bear  heavy  burdens 
in  building  church  edifices  and  rectories,  purchasing 
glebes,  and  in  supporting  the  established  clerg}-.  As  all 
the  colonists  were  now  engaged  in  a  contest  with  the 
mother  country  on  account  of  infringements  of  their 
rights,  it  was  inconsistent  that  all  the  people  should  not 
be  protected  in  the  freedom  of  conscience.  They  expected 
their  representatives  in  the  house  of  assembly  to  remove 
every  species  of  religious  and  civil  bondage.  They  argued 
that  this  oppression  retarded  immigration  to  Virginia, 
and  also  the  progress  of  the  arts  and  sciences  of  the  State 
and  of  its  manufactures.  In  proof  of  this  statement  they 
instanced  the  rapid  growth  and  improvement  of  the 
Northern  colonies  compared  with  Virginia,,  and  at  the 
same  time  directing  the  attention  of  the  assembly  to  the 
many  advantages  of  soil  and  climate  of  the  latter,  yet  men 
refused  to  migrate  to  a  colony  where  they  could  not  enjoy 
the  rights  of  conscience. 

They  argued  rhai  the  gospel  asked  the  support  of  only 
its  own  adherents,  and  did  not  in  that  respect  need  the 
secular  aid;  that  Christianity  would  prevail  and  flourish 
by  its  own  merits  under  an  all-prevailing  Providence. 
They  did  not  ask  ecclesiastical  establishments  for  them- 
selves, nor  did  they  think  them  desirable  for  others,  as  such 
must  of  necessity  be  partial,  and  in  the  main  injurious  to 
the  people  at  large.  They  demanded  that  every  law  that 
countenanced  religious  domination  should  be  immediately 
repealed ;  that  every  religious  sect  should  be  protected  in 
the  full  exercise  of  its  mode  of  worship;  that  all  invidious 
distinctions  in  respect  to  religious  denominations  should 
be  abolished,  and  every  person  be  free  to  support  any  one 
he  chose  by  his  voluntary  gifts.  Such  were  the  senti- 
ments the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  advanced  on  the  sub- 


SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE     CONTINUED.     1 77 

ject  of  religious  freedom;  their  arguments  cover  the 
whole  ground,  enunciating  the  principles  held  and  prac- 
ticed to-day  as  truisms  throughout  the  Union. 

Committee  on  Religion  and  Morality. — With  other  pe- 
titions on  the  subject,  this  memorial  was  referred  to  a 
committee  on  religion  and  morality;  of  this  committee 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  chairman.  As  evidence  of  the  dif- 
ficulties with  which  the  memorialists  had  to  contend,  and 
how  little  the  members  of  that  assembly  appreciated  their 
true  relation  to  the  preachers  of  the  gospel,  may  be  cited 
the  following  resolution  passed  November  19,  1776,  "That 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  continuing  the  suc- 
cession of  the  clergy  [of  the  establishment]  and  for  su- 
perintending their  conduct"  {Randall's  "Life  of  Jeffer- 
son," Vol.  I.,  p.  205).  This  resolution,  designed  to  fore- 
stall or  control  action  on  the  subject,  was  passed  after  the 
petitions  and  memorial  had  been  received  and  referred 
by  the  assembly  to  the  committee,  and  on  which  the  latter 
had  not  yet  reported. 

The  Petitions — The  Demand  as  a  Right. — The  year  be- 
fore (1775)  the  Baptists  petitioned  the  assembly,  "That 
they  might  be  allowed  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way 
without  interruption;  to  maintain  their  own  ministers 
separate  from  others,  and  to  be  married  and  buried  with- 
out paying  the  clergy  of  other  denominations" — meaning 
of  the  establishment  {Dr.  Baird,  p.  2ip).  The  Quakers 
also  petitioned  to  the  same  effect.  The  Presbyterians 
took  higher  ground;  that  it  was  their  right  to  do  this. 
They  did  not  ask  for  a  similar  permission,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  demanded  that  an  end  he  put  to  the  assumption 
of  any  such  authority  in  the  legislature  by  dissolving  the 
union  of  Church  and  State.  The  struggle  did  not  soon 
end.  The  Episcopalians  presented  counter-memorials 
and  so  did  the  Methodists,  who  in  that  day  deemed  them- 
selves in  a  measure  allied  to  the  Church  of  England,  and 


178         A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

were  known  as  the  Wesleyan  connection.  When  the 
Revolutionary  contest  began  great  numbers  of  the  Church 
of  England  clergymen,  who  had  come  from  England, 
went  back  to  that  country  and  left  their  parishes  vacant. 
These  parishes  in  large  numbers  were  filled  by  Methodist 
ministers;  the  latter  falling  heir  in  a  measure  to  the 
emoluments  of  the  parishes.  The  Methodists  maintained 
that  the  State  violated  its  pledges  given  in  the  early  days 
of  the  colony  to  the  established  church,  and  that  its  claims 
were  in  the  form  of  a  vested  right.  In  truth  they  never 
were  "dissenters;"  on  the  contrary,  their  sympathies  and 
church  interests  were  with  the  establishment;  while  their 
ministers  in  Virginia,  during  this  struggle,  were  for  the 
most  part  Englishmen.  These  were  sent  first  (about 
1770)  by  the  London  conference,  America  being  consti- 
tuted on  that  occasion  as  the  fiftieth  circuit.  {Dr.  Ste- 
vens' "Hist,  of  Methodism/'  Vol.  I.,  p.  442.) 

Upon  Whom  Fell  the  Burden  of  the  Conflict. — The 
brunt  of  this  conflict  fell  upon  the  ministers  and  laymen  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  As  preachers  and  exhorters  the 
Baptists  were  very  successful,  but  it  required  better- 
educated  men  to  cope  with  the  lawyers  and  statesmen  in 
the  Virginia  assembly,  and  to  repel  the  arguments  for  the 
continuance  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State.  "The  Bap- 
tists," says  Dr.  Hawks,  "though  not  to  be  outdone  in 
zeal,  were  far  surpassed  in  ability  by  the  Presbyterians. 
The  latter's  ablest  memorials  came  from  the  Presbytery 
of  Hanover"  {Vol.  I.,  p.  140).  To  sustain  their  views  the 
church  advocates  pointed  to  the  history  of  such  union  as 
existing  from  Constantine  onward,  while  the  prospective 
good  effects  of  a  separation  were  at  best  only  a  con- 
jecture, as  the  experiment  had  never  been  tried,  while  the 
arguments  in  respect  to  the  injurious  moral  influence  of 
appointing  improper  men  rectors  of  oarishes,  had  but  little 
influence  with  the  legislature. 


SEPARATION     OF    CHURCH    AND     STATE     CONTINUED.     1 79 

The  attempt  to  support  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  by- 
voluntary  contributions  of  its  own  well-wishers,  appeared 
to  the  members  of  the  assembly  visionary  in  the  extreme, 
especially  as  the  "dissenters"  in  comparison  were  poor 
indeed.  The  wealthy  land  and  slaveholders  belonged  al- 
most entirely  to  the  established  church,  and  from  this  class 
a  large  majority  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  were 
chosen.  "The  establishment,"  says  Jefiferson,  "was  truly 
of  the  religion  of  the  rich,  the  dissenting  sects  being  en- 
tirely composed  of  the  less  wealthy  people."  And  again, 
"Although  two-thirds  of  our  citizens  were  "dissenters,"  a 
majority  of  the  legislature  were  churchmen."  "Among 
these,  however,  were  some  reasonable  and  liberal  men, 
who  enabled  us  on  some  points  to  obtain  feeble  majori- 
ties." "A  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  obliged  by 
law  to  pay  contributions  to  support  the  pastors  of  the 
minority.  This  unrighteous  compulsion  was  grievously 
felt  during  the  royal  government  when  there  was  no  hope 
for  relief." 

The  Legislature  Met  on  Its  Own  Ground. — The  advo- 
cates of  the  system  in  the  assembly  were  met  on  their  own 
ground  by  Presbyterian  clergymen,  who,  by  their  su- 
perior knowledge  of  the  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  won 
their  cause,  and  the  influence  of  that  example  banished 
the  system  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State  from  the  land. 
One  of  the  positions  honestly  taken  by  good  men,  was 
that  injury  would  be  done  the  cause  of  religion;  they  as- 
sumed that  unless  aided  by  the  State  the  church  would 
languish  and  fail  because  of  insufficient  support.  On  the 
contrary,  the  opponents  of  the  system  argued  that  the 
true  friends  of  a  pure  gospel  would,  as  a  matter  of  duty, 
support  the  church ;  and  moreover,  there  would  not  be  so 
much  inducement  for  those  who  were  not  governed  by' 
the  genuine  principles  of  religion  to  connect  themselves 
with  the  church — this  would  be  a  ereat  grain.     The  argu- 


l8o         A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ments  for  the  continuance  of  the  system  had  greater 
weight  then  than  they  would  have  to-day,  since  the  results 
of  voluntary  contributions  for  the  support  of  the  gospel 
and  its  ordinances  have  proved  their  fallacy ;  as  well  as  the 
remarkable  development  of  the  principle  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility in  its  influence  upon  individual  Christians  in 
making  them  more  benevolent  and  more  zealous  in  aiding 
the  cause  of  religion.  This  principle  now  pervades  the 
minds  of  American  Christians  to  an  extent  impossible 
under  a  system  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  where 
the  responsibility  of  supporting  the  gospel  is  shared  be- 
tween its  friends  and  the  world  at  large,  or  State. 

Objectionable  Laivs  Partially  Repealed. — On  the  5th  of 
of  December,  1776,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  assembly 
which  repealed  the  laws  making  it  an  offence  to  hold  any 
particular  religious  opinions,  and  also  removing  the  pen- 
alties inflicted  upon  those  who  did  not  attend  the  service 
of  the  established  church  or  worshiped  elsewhere.  This 
act,  though  imperfect,  in  some  respects,  virtually  dis- 
solved the  union  between  Church  and  State,  by  repealing 
all  former  laws  relating  to  that  union;  it  also  exempted 
"dissenters"  from  contributing  to  the  support  of  that 
church,  but  left  the  latter  in  possession  of  all  the  wealth 
it  had  acquired  by  taxation  in  the  past — this  wealth  con- 
sisted mostly  in  glebes,  parsonages,  and  church  ediflces. 

The  following  is  the  text  of  the  bill :  "We  the  general 
assembly  do  £nact:  That  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to 
frequent  or  support  any  religious  worship,  place,  or  min- 
istry whatsoever,  nor  shall  be  enforced,  restrained,  mo- 
lested, or  burthened  in  his  body  or  goods,  nor  shall  other- 
wise suffer  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions  or  be- 
lief; but  that  all  men  shall  be  free  to  profess,  and  by 
argument  to  maintain,  their  opinions  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion, and  that  the  same  shall  in  no  wise  diminish,  enlarge, 
or  affect  their  civil  capacities." 


SEPARATION     OF    CHURCH     AND    STATE     CONTINUED.     l8l 

In  relation  to  minor  points  the  contest  continued,  and 
the  bill  for  the  separation  did  not  go  fully  into  effect  till 
ten  years  afterward  (1786)  ;  Jefferson  was  a  member  of 
the  assembly  in  1776,  and  chairman  of  the  committee 
when  this  partial  repeal  was  made.  During  the  two  years 
following  many  memorials  or  petitions  were  presented 
by  both  parties  to  the  assembly;  some  of  these  asked  for  a 
general  assessment  or  tax  for  the  benefit  of  all  denomina- 
tions, and  some  in  opposition;  while  other  petitioners 
stepped  back  a  century  and  asked  that  the  "sectaries"  be 
prohibited  from  holding  meetings,  and  none  but  ''licensed 
preachers"  (meaning  of  the  establishment)  be  permitted 
to  conduct  public  worship. 

Prejudices  Roused — Tories — Whigs — Quakers. — After 
the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  a  strong 
prejudice  was  roused  against  the  established  clergy,  as  the 
great  majority  of  them  were  ardent  loyalists,  or  "Tories;" 
the  Presbyterians  and  Baptists  were  even  more  ardently 
"Whigs" — their  ministers  preached  with  great  zeal  the 
doctrine  of  resistance  to  tyrants.  The  Quakers  were, 
for  the  greater  part,  from  principle  opposed  to  war  in  any 
form,  and  thus  they  were  often  misjudged  as  to  their  mo- 
tives. Under  the  circumstances,  which  we  of  to-day  can- 
not fully  appreciate,  it  was  not  strange  that  so  many  of 
the  clergy  were  Tories ;  the  traditions  of  that  church  were 
in  favor  of  royalty,  and,  moreover,  a  large  majority  were 
Englishmen  by  birth.  Unfortunately  they  influenced 
their  parishioners  almost  as  much  in  favor  of  royalty  as 
the  dissenting  pastors  did  their  flocks  in  favor  of  liberty. 

The  General  AssessDwnt — Another  Memorial. — The 
advocates  for  the  union  of  Church  and  State  did  not  relax 
their  efforts  to  retain  the  secular  advantages  which  the 
establishment  had  already,  but  earnestly  contended  to 
secure  emoluments,  however  small.  First  the  attempt 
was  made  to  have  a  general  assessment  of  taxes  to  sup- 


l82  A     HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

port  all  the  denominations  alike.  The  Baptists  and 
Quakers  as  well  as  the  Presbyterians  opposed  this  sys- 
tem; the  latter  especially,  on  the  ground  that  aid  for  the 
gospel  in  that  form  was  injurious  to  spiritual  religion. 
Accordingly  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  came  forward 
with  another  of  their  well-reasoned  memorials  (1778); 
and  after  courteously  thanking  the  assembly  for  what  they 
had  done  in  repealing  some  of  the  offensive  and  illiberal 
laws,  they  proceeded  to  oppose  the  "plan  of  a  general 
assessment."  They  argued  that  the  only  proper  object 
of  civil  government  was  to  promote  the  happiness  of  the 
people  by  protecting  them  as  citizens  in  their  rights;  to 
restrain  the  vicious  by  wholesome  laws  and  encourage 
the  virtuous  by  the  same  means;  that  the  obligations 
which  men  owe  their  Creator  are  not  a  proper  subject  of 
human  legislation,  and  the  worship  of  God  according  to 
the  dictates  of  conscience  was  an  inalienable  right. 
"Neither  does  the  Church  of  Christ  stand  in  need  of  a 
general  assessment  for  its  support;  and  most  certain  we 
are  persuaded  that  it  would  be  no  advantage,  but  an  in- 
jury to  the  society  to  which  we  belong;  and  we  believe 
that  Christ  has  ordained  a  complete  system  of  laws  for 
the  government  of  His  Kingdom,  so  we  are  persuaded 
that  by  His  providence  He  will  support  its  final  consum- 
mation." This  memorial  was  also  seconded  by  the  urgent 
protests  of  the  Baptists;  the  result  was  that  the  following 
year  the  proposed  plan  of  general  assessment  was  aban- 
doned for  the  time  being.  We,  to-day,  take  for  granted 
the  principles  here  enunciated,  they  having  been  so  thor- 
oughly discussed,  while  experience  has  as  clearly  proved 
their  soundness  and  utility.  These  Christian  men  were 
fully  convinced  that  the  effect  of  the  union  of  Church  and 
State  was,  for  many  reasons,  injurious  to  spiritual  re- 
ligion. Many  of  these  legislators,  though  they  talked  so 
learnedly,  were  unable  to  appreciate  the  question  in  its 


SEPARATION    OF    CHURCH     AND    STATE    CONTINUED.     1 83 

spiritual  bearings,  and  for  that  reason  alone  the  authors 
of  these  memorials  never  urged  the  arguments  derived 
from  this  phase  of  the  subject,  but  judiciously  waived 
them,  although  they  were  so  convincing  to  themselves, 
and  to  the  church  members  whom  they  represented. 

Defscts  in  the  Act  of  Repeal. — It  was  only  in  general 
terms  that  the  law  of  December,  1776;  dissolved  the  union 
of  Church  and  State,  and  the  clergy  of  the  former  "still 
retained  the  glebes — the  lands  belonging  to  the  parishes 
— and  also  claimed  the  right  of  performing  marriage  cere- 
monies with  the  accustomed  fees."  Therefore  the  as- 
sembly found  it  necessary  (1780)  to  enact:  "That  it  shall 
and  may  be  lawful  for  any  minister  of  any  society  or 
congregation  of  Christians  to  celebrate  the  rites  of  matri- 
mony, and  such  marriage,  as  well  as  those  hereafter  cele- 
brated by  dissenting  ministers,  shall  be  and  are  hereby 
declared  good  and  valid  in  law."  Yet  under  this  law  the 
Episcopal  clergy  were,  ex  officio,  authorized  to  celebrate 
marriages  throughout  the  State,  while  the  ministers  of 
other  denominations  had  to  obtain  a  license,  and  in  addi- 
tion, were  limited  to  certain  districts  or  counties.  In 
answer  to  this  insulting  legislation,  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover  came  forward  with  a  carefully  prepared  argu- 
ment covering  the  whole  ground  of  controversy,  in  which 
the  wrong  of  the  law  in  relation  to  performing  the  rites  of 
matrimony  was  thoroughly  discussed  and  shown.  In  due 
time  the  law  was  so  modified  as  to  be  virtually  repealed. 

Security  of  Religious  Rights  Demanded. — The  Pres- 
bytery also  complained  that  "the  security  or  religious 
rights  was  left  to  the  precarious  fate  of  common  law,  in- 
stead of  bjeing  made  a  fundamental  part  of  our  constitu- 
tion as  it  ought  to  be."  They  likewise  complained  that 
the  Episcopal  Church  was  the  only  one  incorporated  and 
could  hold  property,  while  all  other  denominations  "were 
cbliged  to  trust  to  the  precarious  fidelity  of  trustees  chosen 


184        A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

for  the  purpose,"  and  they,  asking  nothing  for  themselves, 
demanded  that  these  inequahties  in  the  treatment  of  Chris- 
tian denominations  should  be  removed.  The  assembly 
continued  from  year  to  year  to  suspend  Church  levies; 
this  policy  necessitated  continual  watchfulness  on  the  part 
of  the  "dissenters,"  till  in  the  latter  part  of  1779  these 
levies  were  abolished;  but  this  action  was  not  acquiesced 
in  sincerely,  for  after  the  return  of  peace  the  Virginia 
Assembly  again  attempted  legislation  (1784)  on  the  sub- 
ject; the  intention  now  being  to  incorporate  "all  socie- 
ties of  the  Christian  religion,  which  may  apply  for  the 
same."  The  reason  for  this  apparent  liberality  cropped 
out  when  to  the  bill  was  added  an  amendment  authoriz- 
ing a  general  assessment  "to  establish  a  provision 
for  the  teachers  of  the  Christian  religion."  The 
Hanover  Presbytery  took  measures  to  oppose  this  re- 
newal of  that  project;  but  meanwhile,  though  secretly,  its 
friends  had  been  so  active  that  it  was  apprehended  it 
would  pass  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts  in  opposition.  The 
question  was  now  in  a  new  form,  and  in  it  was  a  tempta- 
tion. As  all  would  receive  aid  from  the  public  funds,  and 
the  experiment  of  voluntary  support  might  possibly  re- 
sult in  failure,  it  was  not  strange  that  a  few  Presbyterian 
ministers  for  a  time  wavered,  but  in  the  end  they  came 
back  with  still  greater  force  to  their  former  convictions 
of  the  truth,  that  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel  ought  to  be 
supported  as  a  matter  of  Christian  duty  by  its  own  ad- 
herents, who  should  in  this  action  be  free  and  untram- 
meled  by  any  secular  or  legislative  influence  whatever. 

Protest  against  Incorporating  the  Episcopal  Church. 
— Consistent  with  the  original  movement  was  another.  A 
bill  was  brought  forward  in  the  assembly  to  incorporate 
the  "Protestant  Episcopal  Church" — the  name  assumed 
after  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  This  measure  was  de- 
signed to  secure  to  that  church  the  absolute  ownership 


SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE     CONTINUED.     1 85 

of  all  the  glebe-lands  and  the  buildings  thereon  erected — 
all  obtained  at  the  public  expense  by  taxation.  The  per- 
sistent Presbytery  of  Hanover  appeared  again  before  the 
legislature  in  opposition  to  this  revived  measure  with  its 
still  more  objectionable  features.  The  celebrated  Dr. 
John  Blair  Smith,  who  at  one  time  was  inclined  to  favor 
the  "general  assessment,'  was  heard  at  the  bar  of  the 
house  in  an  exhaustive  argument  in  opposition  to  the 
enactment  of  the  bill.  He  continued  his  address  for  three 
days;  in  which  the  whole  subject  was  so  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed and  the  evil  effects  of  the  proposed  law  were  so 
clearly  pointed  out  that  the  scheme  was  abandoned  for- 
ever. 

The  General  Assessment  Again. — The  presbytery  took 
high  ground,  saying:  "We  hope  that  no  attempt  will  be 
made  to  point  out  articles  of  faith,  or  to  settle  modes  of 
worship,  or  to  interfere  in  the  internal  government  of  re- 
ligious communities,  or  to  render  the  ministers  of  relig- 
ion independent  of  the  will  of  the  people  whom  they  serve." 
Again,  that  body  protested  (August,  1785)  against  "the 
incorporation  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,"  so 
far  as  to  secure  to  that  church  "properties  procured  at 
the  expense  of  the  whole  community."  The  truth  is,  that 
in  this  controversy,  lasting  for  nine  years,  the  assembly 
having  a  majority  of  its  members  churchmen,  did!  not 
keep  faith  with  their  opponents  outside  that  denomina- 
tion. From  their  point  of  view  they  thought  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  gospel  would  be  unsupported  and  Chris- 
tianity crippled  in  its  influence.  They  had  never  fully 
realized  as  individuals  their  personal  responsibility  in 
the  duty  of  supporting  the  gospel,  as  the  "dissenters"  had 
done  during  the  many  years  in  which  the  latter,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  conscience,  sustained  their  own  ministers  and  the 
ordinances  of  the  gospel,  while  at  the  same  time,  paying, 
in  the  form  of  arbitrary  taxes,  their  share  in  supporting 
14 


l86         A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

3  church  estabUshment,  whose  ritual  and  form  of  gov- 
ernment they  deemed  "unscriptural."  It  is  strange  that 
the  self-respect  and  Christian  manhood  of  the  churchmen 
of  that  day  did  not  induce  them  to  decline  receiving  money 
thus  wrung  from  their  neighbors,  whom  they  were  pleased 
to  characterize  as  "dissenters."  Some  of  the  best  minds 
among  the  Virginia  statesmen  were  in  favor  of  the  "gen- 
eral assessment,"  such  as  Patrick  Henry,  who  thought  an 
assessment  "should  be  made  for  some  form  of  worship 
or  other" ;  Edmund  Pendleton — "an  honest  man,  but  zeal- 
ous churchman,"  whom  Jefferson  characterized  as,  "taken 
all  in  all,  the  ablest  man  in  debate  he  had  ever  met," 
and  Richard  Henry  Lee,  who  wrote  that  "avarice  is  ac- 
complishing the  destruction  of  religion  for  want  of  a  legal 
obligation  to  contribute  something  to  its  support,"  and 
even  George  Washington  wrote  to  George  Mason  (1785), 
"that  he  was  not  much  alarmed  at  the  thought  of  making 
people  pay  toward  the  support  of  that  which  they  pro- 
fess." On  the  other  hand,  the  assessment  was  opposed 
by  James  Madison  and  George  Mason  (the  intimate 
friend  of  Washington),  and  others — Jefferson  being 
abroad  at  that  time  as  minister  to  France.  In  1799  all 
laws  made  for  the  benefit  of  religious  societies  were  re- 
pealed, and  in  1801  "the  'glebes'  as  soon  as  vacated  by 
existing  incumbents,  were  ordered  to  be  sold  by  the  over- 
seers of  the  poor." 

The  Effects  of  Petitions  and  Arguments. — ^We  would 
not  detract  one  iota  from  the  merit  of  the  Baptists  and 
the  Quakers  in  this  struggle,  but  from  the  nature  of  the 
case — as  they  presented  only  petitions  and  protests — their 
efforts  were  not  as  influential  as  the  Presbyterians,  who, 
from  their  position  on  a  higher  plane  of  education,  both 
ministers  and  laity  were  able  to  meet  their  opponents  in 
open  debate  or  by  written  arguments  well  put;  thus  they 
became  the  controlling  force  in  bringing  about  the  reform. 


Rev.  John  Holt   Rice,   D.  D. 

(257,  25S,  323,  394.) 


SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH    AND     STATE    CONTINUED.     1 87 

The  latter  never  wavered  in  their  determination  to  secure 
the  desired  end,  but,  amid  discouragements  and  false  faith, 
they  calmly  persevered  in  refuting  the  arguments  of  their 
opponents,  and,  in  the  end,  winning  to  their  sentiments 
the  more  enlightened  and  liberal-minded  churchmen,  not 
only  in  the  assembly,  but  in  the  State, 

Contest  in  Respect  to  the  Glebes. — The  question  of  the 
glebes,  which  grew  out  of  the  repealing  act,  was  also 
strongly  contested,  and  deserves  a  passing  notice.  It 
was  argued  that  the  glebes  should  be  retained  by  the 
Episcopal  Church,  as  some  of  the  funds  applied  in  their 
purchase  had  been  donations.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was 
contended  that  the  glebes  and  parsonages  were  public 
property,  bought  almost  entirely  by  funds  raised  by  un- 
just taxation — the  donations  being  a  very  small  portion 
of  the  whole  amount.  Moreover,  the  established  church 
had  had,  up  to  that  time,  the  exclusive  use  of  the  funds 
thus  raised,  the  advantages  of  which  use  far  overbalanced 
the  loss  of  these  limited  donations,  even  if  they  could  be 
separated  from  the  common  fund;  and  in  addition  it  re- 
tained its  church  buildings,  though  erected  by  means  of 
moneys  derived  from  taxes  imposed  upon  the  whole  com- 
munity. It  was  suggested  that  the  churchmen  were  most- 
ly wealthy  land  and  slaveholders,  and  it  was  much  easier 
for  them,  by  voluntary  contributions,  to  sustain  their  own 
church  than  for  the  other  denominations  of  Christians. 

On  the  subject  of  selling  the  glebes  for  the  benefit  of 
the  whole  people,  the  Baptists  were  more  strenuous  than 
any  of  the  other  "dissenters."  Says  Dr.  Hawks :  "There 
was  a  bitterness  of  hatred  in  this  denomination  (Baptist) 
toward  the  establishment,  which  far  surpassed  that  of  all 
other  religious  communities  in  the  colony;  and  it  was 
always  prompt  to  avail  itself  of  every  prejudice  which 
religious  or  political  zeal  could  excite  against  the  church." 
{Vol.  I.,  p.  121.)    One  reason  of  this  hostile  feeling  may 


1 88         A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

have  been  that  the  Baptists  had  been  persecuted  more 
than  the  other  denominations,  and  in  more  degrading 
forms.  The  remembrance  of  these  outrages  came  down 
from  generation  to  generation,  and  roused  a  feeling  that 
was  closely  allied  to  righteous  indignation.  The  Presby- 
terians appear  to  have  viewed  the  dissolving  of  the  union 
of  Church  and  State  as  the  all-important  question  at  issue, 
and  when  that  was  accomplished  they  looked  upon  that 
of  church  property  as  secondary.  In  accordance  with  this 
general  sentiment  of  rejecting  secular  aid  in  any  form, 
the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  refused  incorporation  for 
their  denomination,  as  had  been  granted  the  Episcopal 
Church,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  contrary  to  their  views 
of  propriety,  and,  from  principle,  they  declined  any  ad- 
vantage to  be  thus  obtained.  The  assembly  reconsidered 
its  action,  and  finally  (1787)  repealed  the  law  incorpo- 
rating the  Episcopal  Church, 

A  Half  Century  of  Intolerance  Remembered. — The 
Presbyterians  also  remembered  that  their  church  members 
and  ministers  had  labored  for  more  than  a  half  century 
under  disabilities  caused  by  the  intolerance  more  or  less 
instigated  by  the  Church  of  England;  that  in  the  colony 
of  New  York  ministers  of  their  denomination  had  been 
imprisoned  and  otherwise  maltreated.  Notably  was  this 
the  case  of  Rev,  Francis  Makemie,  who,  when  on  a  visit 
to  that  colony  from  Maryland,  was  sent  to  jail  by  the  Gov- 
ernor— Lord  Cornbury — because  he  dared  preach  in  a  pri- 
vate house  when  every  hall  or  church  building  had  been 
denied  him  by  the  same  authority ;  that  at  the  instigation 
of  the  "rector  and  church  wardens  of  Trinity  Church," 
they  were  not  permitted  to  have  a  "charter  of  incorpora- 
tion for  their  then  only  church  building,  but  were  com- 
pelled to  resort  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  (1730),  in  whose  name  as  legal  trustees  the 
building  and  land  belonging  to  "the  First  Presbyterian 


SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH    AND    STATE     CONTINUED.     1 89 

Church"  was  held  till  the  Revolution  changed  the  order 
of  things.  They  had  met  the  same  hostile  feeling  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  in  a  still  more  repugnant  form.  Yet  in  the 
famous  memorial  presented  by  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover 
to  the  Virginia  Assembly  (October,  1776),  and  in  the 
many  which  followed,  no  bitterness  was  expressed,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  reasoning  on  the  injurious  effects  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State,  on  religious  freedom,  on  the 
spread  of  the  gospel  and  its  pure  and  holy  influence  on  the 
minds  of  the  people. 

An  Apology  Urged. — It  is  often  urged  by  way  of  apol- 
ogy that  these  intolerant  proceedings  were  characteristic 
of  the  times ;  but  why  were  not  churchmen  as  liberal  as  the 
"dissenters  ?"  The  latter  did  not  interfere  with  the  Church 
of  England  in  its  ordinances ;  they  never  were  the  aggres- 
sors; but,  as  best  they  could,  only  defended  themselves 
from  the  assaults  of  the  former.  The  truth  is,  this  self- 
complacent  age,  though  thus  apologizing,  is  scarcely  jus- 
tifiable in  assuming  to  be  perfect  examples  of  tolerance 
in  respect  to  non-essentials  in  religious  matters,  when  we 
take  into  consideration  the  higher  plane  on  which  all  de- 
nominations of  Christians  are  presumed  to  stand  at  the 
present  time  in  respect  to  religious  freedom.  Is  not  the 
spirit  which  to-day  manifests  itself,  sometimes  even  in 
evangelical  denominations,  of  virtually  unchurching  those 
who  do  not  use  the  same  mode  as  themselves  in  the  rite 
of  baptism,  or  in  ordaining  preachers  of  the  word,  as  in- 
tolerant in  proportion  to  the  light  they  are  presumed  to 
have  on  the  subject  of  religious  liberty,  as  those  who  fig- 
ured so  ignobly  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago? 

When  a  Baptist  pastor  or  a  rector  refuses  to  give  mem- 
bers in  good  and  regular  standing  in  his  own  church  a 
certificate  to  that  effect,  if  such  members  wish  to  change 
their  church  relations  to  one  that  is  evangelical,  but  not  of 
the  Baptist  or  Episcopal  order,  is  it  strange,  if  the  ques- 


IQO         A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

tion  arises,  wherein  does  such  refusal  differ  in  spirit  from 
the  instances  of  intolerance  recorded  in  this  narrative? 

Who  B£gan  the  Movement  and  Secured  the  Result? — 
Justice  and  the  truth  of  history  demand  that  the  services 
of  those  who  accomplished  this  important  result — the 
separation  of  Church  and  State  in  Virginia — should  be 
recognized.  If  the  statements  of  certain  authors  are  im- 
plicitly received,  the  inference  would  be,  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  originated  the  measure  and  carried  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue.  In  proof  of  this  theory,  they  cite  the  bill 
he  drew  up  to  secure  religious  freedom,  which,  as  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  he  introduced  into  the  legislature. 
This  measure  was  not  brought  before  the  assembly  until 
some  weeks  after  the  first  memorial  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover  was  presented  to  that  body,  and  referred  to  a 
special  committee  (October  ii,  1776),  "to  take  into  con- 
sideration all  matters  and  things  relating  to  religion  and 
morals."  Of  this  committee  Jefferson  was  appointed 
chairman,  and  in  that  capacity  he  drew  up  the  bill  and 
presented  it  to  the  House.  There  is  no  historical  evidence 
that  he  would  of  his  own  motion  have  introduced  a  bill 
of  that  purport,  had  not  petitions  and  the  memorial  fur- 
nished him  an  occasion.  This  memorial  was  the  first  to 
intimate  the  necessity  for  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State.  The  arguments  which  it  contained  covered  the 
whole  ground  of  religious  freedom ;  discussing  the  ques- 
tions in  a  manner  lucid  and  terse,  leaving  nothing  more  to 
be  added.  There  is  not  an  idea  in  Jefferson's  preamble 
and  bill  that  is  not  expressed  or  clearly  implied  in  the 
memorial;  the  latter  is  concise  and  to  the  point;  the  for- 
mer is  clothed  in  easy,  flowing  terms  of  generalities;  a 
sort  of  theoretical  style — if  the  term  is  admissible ;  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  author's  manner  iii  treating  similar  sub- 
jects. The  preamble  consists  of  one  sentence,  contain- 
ing fifty-two  lines  of  small  print,  on  an  octavo  page. 


SEPARATION     OF    CHURCH    AND    STATE    CONTINUED.    I9I 

The  Presbyterians  leading,  the  "dissenters"  were  the 
first  in  that  colony  or  State  to  move  in  this  reform;  Jef- 
ferson joined  them,  not  they  him.  It  is  well  known,  how- 
ever, that  he  held  liberal,  and  now  deemed  correct,  views 
on  the  general  subject  of  free  thought  and  its  free  ex- 
pression, and  that  the  presentation  of  the  memorial  gave 
him  an  opportunity  of  which  he  availed  himself  to  express 
his  sentiments.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  debated  the 
question  in  the  assembly;  his  influence  was  exerted  pri- 
vately and  by  writing.  In  1784  he  went  to  France  on  pub- 
lic business,  and  the  bill  which  bears  his  name,  when  mod- 
ified by  amendments,  was  passed  in  1786 — after  the  lapse 
of  ten  years;  thus  going  into  full  effect  through  the  ex- 
ertions of  George  Mason  and  James  Madison,  especially 
the  latter,  who  was  an  accomplished  debater  and  writer. 

During  the  ten  years  mentioned  the  advocates  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State  in  the  assembly  changed  their 
tactics  almost  every  session,  and  under  different  forms 
sought  to  gain  advantage,  however  small.  These  various 
phases  of  the  contest  were  counteracted  by  the  persistent 
efforts  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover.  Jefferson,  in  his 
Notes  on  Virginia,  as  quoted  by  Randall  {Vol.  I.,  p. 
204),  charged  the  Presbyterians  with  intolerance  toward 
other  denominations  in  the  Northern  colonies.  He  made 
the  inexcusable  mistake  for  a  man  of  his  position  of  con- 
founding the  Congregationalists  with  the  Presbyterians. 
He  cites  no  authority  for  the  charge,  but  he  ought  to  have 
known  that  the  latter  were,  and  had  been,  consistent  ad- 
vocates for  all  to  enjoy  the  same  religious  freedom  which 
they  demanded  for  themselves;  and  this  right,  they  ar- 
gued, was  derived  from  a  higher  authority  than  that  of 
the  civil  magistrate.  This  vital  idea  was  in  the  first  me- 
morial they  presented  to  the  assembly,  and,  moreover, 
he  ought  to  have  borne  in  mind  .that  even  if  the  Presbyte- 
rians wished  they  had  no  opportunity  to  practise  intol- 


192         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

erance,  as  they  stood  aloof — tiever  desired  and  never  had 
any  control  in  the  civil  government  of  the  colonies.  Jef- 
ferson, afterward,  expressed  his  gratification  that:  "All 
beliefs,  whether  Christian  or  Infidel,  Jew  or  Mohamme- 
dan, were  put  on  an  equality."  It  does  not  follow  from 
this  statement,  as  has  been  charged,  that  Jefiferson  held 
that  one  system  of  belief  was  as  worthy  of  respect  as 
another,  but  rather  that  he  had  in  his  mind  the  abstract 
theory  of  thought  and  its  free  expression. 

Religions  Freedom  and  Patriotism. — The  Presbyterian 
Church  has  ever  been  on  the  side  of  religious  freedom  and 
against  intolerance.  Throughout  her  entire  history,  and 
in  all  her  records,  "there  is  not  an  act  on  this  great  sub- 
ject that  received  her  sanction,  for  which  she  need  offer 
an  apology."  They  were  equally  as  explicit  in  regard  to 
their  patriotism.  The  synod,  their  highest  court  at  that 
time,  when  in  session  in  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1775,  as 
patriots  declared :  "That  they  did  not  wish  to  conceal 
their  sentiments,  either  as  ministers  or  citizens."  Look- 
ing forward  to  a  conflict  of  arms,  they  say:  "That  man 
will  fight  most  bravely  who  never  fights  till  it  is  necessary, 
and  who  ceases  to  fight  as  soon  as  the  necessity  is  over." 
This  was  the  position  taken  and  maintained  by  them 
throughout  the  Revolutionary  struggle. 

Influence  of  the  Measure  in  Neiv  England. — It  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  the  separation  of  Church  and  State 
in  Virginia  was  not  without  influence,  as  within  a  few 
years  afterward,  similar  results  were  produced  in  New 
York,  Maryland  and  the  Carolinas,  wherein  the  Church 
of  England  had  been  established  in  colonial  times.  The 
legislatures  of  these  States  dissolved  the  connection  ex- 
pressly by  law,  but  in  New  England,  where  the  system 
was  not  so  arbitrary  and  unjust,  it  lingered  on  an  aver- 
age for  forty  years  longer — Connecticut  adopted  the  vol- 
untary system  in  1818  and  Massachusetts  in  1834. 


SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH    AND     STATE    CONTINUED.     1 93 

The  adoption  of  the  Church  and  State  system  in  New 
England  seemed  due  to  the  influence  of  the  union  with  the 
State  of  the  Independent  or  Congregational  Church  in 
Old  England,  under  the  domination  of  Cromwell.  The 
Congregational  Church  being  in  numbers  the  leading  de- 
nomination in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  though  hith- 
erto self-supporting,  was  induced  to  fall  into  line  with 
the  Cromwell  theory.  It  is  strange,  however,  that  after 
we  became  a  nation,  the  leading  minds  in  both  State  and 
Church  in  that  section  did  not  sooner  recognize  the  incon- 
gruity of  the  system  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  repudiates  the  union  of  Church  and  State. 

An  additional  influence  with  adequate  power  was 
needed  to  change  this  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  State ; 
that  force  was  in  the  revivals  that  pervaded  the  country 
{p.  224)  from  A.D.  1800  forward  for  quite  a  number  of 
years.  "These  widespread  revivals  *  *  *  saved  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  America  from  its  low  estate  and 
girded  it  for  stupendous  tasks  that  were  about  to  be  de- 
veloped on  it.  In  the  glow  of  this  renewed  fervor,  the 
churches  of  New  England  successfully  made  the  difficult 
transition  from  establishment  to  self-support  and  to  the 
costly  enterprises  of  aggressive  evangelization,  into  which, 
in  company  with  other  churches  to  the  south  and  west, 
they  were  about  to  enter."    {Am.  Christianity,  pp.  244-5.) 

Personal  Responsibility  Recognized  and  Strengthened. 
— An  important  element  of  influence — that  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility in  relation  to  religious  duties — was  strength- 
ened by  this  separation,  as  the  church  was  thus  thrown  for 
its  support  entirely  upon  its  individual  members.  From 
the  time  of  Jonathan  Edwards  forward  the  true  position 
of  the  individual  in  rfegard  to  personal  religion  became 
more  fully  understood,  and  the  responsibility  for  the  souls 
of  those  whom  they  governed,  which  we  have  seen  as- 
sumed by  the  civil  magistrate,  was  gradually  shifted  from 


194         A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

the  latter  to  the  individual.  Consistent  with  this  view, 
evangehcal  denominations  have  demanded  only  one  quali- 
fication, entitling  a  person  to  the  privilege  of  the  com- 
munion— that  of  being  converted  or  a  Christian.  In  ad- 
dition, this  sense  of  responsibility  was  still  further 
strengthened  and  made  practical  when  individual  mem- 
bers, irrespective  of  the  State,  learned  to  sustain  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  labored  to  extend  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel;  to  this  principle  may  be  traced 
that  remarkable  spirit  of  benevolence,  which,  in  various 
forms,  has  made  our  times,  when  compared  with  the  past, 
the  golden  age  of  the  world. 

Self-Denial  and  Benevolence. — The  "dissenters"  in  colo- 
nial times  in  their  hard  discipline  acquired  the  grace  of 
being  benevolent.  In  their  zeal  for  what  they  believed  the 
truth,  they  made  immense  sacrifices ;  they  paid  their  share 
not  only  in  supporting  a  religious  establishment  with 
which  they  had  no  sympathy,  but,  in  addition,  sustained 
their  own  church  ordinances — thus  manifesting  a  self- 
denial,  which,  because  of  their  exertions,  American  Chris- 
tians, since  that  time,  have  had  no  occasion  to  practice. 
The  churchmen  of  that  day  were  strangers  to  such  self- 
denial.  They  had  never  been  in  a  school  where  it  was 
taught;  nor  had  they  learned  the  truth  of  each  one's  re- 
sponsibility in  proportion  to  his  means,  to  aid  in  support- 
ing the  gospel.  In  the  broadness  of  liberal  sentiments  they 
were  far  behind  the  "dissenters,"  and  it  became  a  great 
blessing  to  the  spirituality  of  that  church  when  its  entire 
support  was  thrown  upon  its  own  members. 

Influence  of  the  Voluntary  Principle. — The  voluntary 
principle,  based  as  it  is  on  individual  responsibility,  has 
since  pervaded  the  churches  of  the  whole  Union,  the 
beneficent  effects  of  which  are  seen  not  only  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  gospel  in  all  its  special  relations,  and  in  aiding 
institutions  of  learning,  but  in  originating  and  sustaining 


SEPARATION     OF    CHURCH     AND     STATE    CONTINUED.     I95 

the  benevolent  operations  of  our  day — greater  in  pro- 
portion than  ever  before — while  the  whole  missionary  en- 
terprise in  the  land,  foreign  and  domestic,  may  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  same  principle.  These  "dissenters"  were  far 
advanced  for  the  times  in  the  great  principles  of  religious 
freedom  and  Christian  charity.  To  them  the  purity  and 
the  free  preaching  of  the  gospel  was  paramount  to  all 
other  considerations.  They  held  the  doctrine,  which  ob- 
tains to-day  among  the  Protestants  of  the  Union,  that  the 
Church  should  not  dominate  the  State,  nor  the  State  the 
Church,  but  that  they  should  mutually  sustain  each  other 
— the  one  by  inculcating  good  morals  and  obedience  to 
law,  and  the  other  by  protecting  the  free  preaching  of  the 
gospel  and  the  practising  of  its  principles. 

A  Nations  Moral  Training. — It  is  proper  in  this  his- 
tory to  notice  certain  events  that  had  influence  in  mould- 
ing the  moral  character  and  inner  life  of  the  American 
colonists.  After  the  great  Revolution  in  England  of  1688, 
in  consequence  of  a  limited  advance  made  in  the  Tolera- 
tion Act  toward  genuine  religious  liberty,  the  emigration 
from  the  British  Isles  to  the  American  colonies  began  to 
diminish.  The  condition  of  the  dissenters  was  made  more 
endurable  by  that  act,  as  it  modified  for  the  better  the 
illiberal  rule  of  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England.  The 
act  was  presumed  to  apply  also  to  the  colonies.  In  ac- 
cordance with  that  view,  those  Presbyterians  who  emi- 
grated from  the  British  Isles  to  America,  from  1688  to 
1765,  did  so  not  specially  to  avoid  persecution,  but  rather 
to  better  their  material  interests,  though  no  doubt  they 
expected  to  enjoy  more  fully  religious  liberty.  A  partial 
exception  was  in  the  case  of  the  Presbyterians  in  the  north 
of  Ireland,  who  suffered  much  from  intolerance.  During 
this  period  many  thousands  also  came  from  the  Continent 
of  Europe. 

After  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  (1688)  the 


196         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

exiled  Huguenots  flocked  to  America  even  in  larger  num- 
bers than  ever  and  found  homes  in  the  different  colonies, 
and  were  everywhere  welcomed  as  worthy  citizens.  They 
brought  with  them  their  advanced  and  remarkable  skill 
in  the  mechanical  industries,  while  they  also  exerted  a 
Christian  influence.  In  those  days  they  affiliated  much 
with  the  Presbyterians,  though  in  New  York  "some  of 
their  leading  pastors  accepted  salaries  from  the  'Society 
for  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,'  tendered  to  them  on  condi- 
tion of  their  accepting  the  ordination  and  conforming  to 
the  ritual  of  the  English  Church." 

Great  numbers  of  Germans — Lutherans  and  German 
Reformed — began  to  come  about  1684.  The  latter  found 
homes  mostly  in  Pennsylvania  and  were  also  welcomed 
as  a  religious,  industrious,  economical  and  exemplary 
people.  A  colony  of  nearly  5,000  Germans  from  the 
Palatinate  settled  in  1707  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk; 
these  were  followed  from  time  to  time  by  emigrants 
from  the  same  region;  numbers  of  these,  however,  after- 
ward migrated  to  Pennsylvania.  They  were  all  desirable 
citizens.  Such  were  the  classes  of  immigrants  during 
these  seventy-seven  years.  They  were  all  Protestants 
and  in  their  new  homes  adhered  to  their  religious  views 
and  high-toned  moral  principles  which  they  derived  from 
their  Bibles  while  cultivating  the  virtues  of  industry  and 
frugality. 

During  this  period  of  seventy-seven  years  the  moral  and 
religious  principles  of  the  members  of  these  several  de- 
nominations composing  the  colonists  had  an  untrammeled 
opportunity  to  permeate  the  minds  of  all  and  freely  de- 
velop throughout  the  land.  An  evidence  of  that  fact  is 
found  in  the  stringent  laws  in  respect  to  morality  which 
were  everywhere  enforced.  For  illustration:  the  laws 
in  relation  to  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  were  as  rigid 
in  Virginia  under  the  Cavaliers  as  they  were  in  New  Eng- 


SEPARATION     OF     CHURCH     AND     STATE     CONTINUED.     I97 

land  under  the  Puritans.  That  period  was  as  much  a  train- 
ing school  in  morals  for  the  American  colonists  as  were 
the  forty  years'  sojournings  of  the  Children  of  Israel  in 
the  wilderness.  The  latter  were  never  so  much  imbued 
with  religion  as  when  at  the  end  of  that  time  they  en- 
tered the  land  of  Canaan;  the  same  may  be  said  of  the 
American  colonists  when  they  entered  upon  the  struggle 
for  independence.  The  religious  tone  of  the  patriots  dur- 
ing that  contest  was  remarkable.  Witness  their  trust  in  the 
care  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  whose  aid  in  their  cause  they 
invoked  most  reverently.  This  sentiment  pervaded  the 
minds  of  the  patriots  in  every  grade  of  society  and  in 
every  portion  of  the  land,  and  manifested  itself  in  the  doc- 
uments issued  by  their  statesmen.  These  results  were  the 
legitimate  outgrowth  of  the  Puritan-Presbyterian,  scrip- 
tural and  moral  principles  which  so  much  imbued  the 
minds  of  the  great  majority  of  the  colonists  and  which 
germinal  principles,  for  three-fourths  of  a  century,  had 
thus  an  opportunity  to  develop  untrammeled  by  outside 
influence.    {Chap.  XXIV.,  Four  Hundred  Years,  etc.) 


XXI. 

The  Troublous  Times. 

The  prosperity  of  the  church  was  great  during  this 
period  of  union  (1758-1788),  but  troublous  times  with 
the  mother  country  were  impending,  and  when  the  synod 
seventeen  years  later  met  in  Philadelphia  on  May  17, 
1775.  blood  had  already  been  shed,  for  just  one  month 
before,  to  a  day,  the  conflicts  at  Concord  and  Lexington 
had  taken  place.  The  news  had  spread  throughout  the 
country,  producing  great  excitement  and  anxiety  in  the 
popular  mind. 

Patriotism — The  Pastoral  Letter. — The  synod,  in  ad- 
dition to  its  ordinary  cares  and  duties  which  it  owed  to 
the  churches  as  such,  also  realized  the  dangers  that  the 
approaching  contest  would  bring  upon  their  country,  and 
they  made  known  their  patriotic  sentiments,  and  in  no 
uncertain  tone.  They,  it  seems  for  the  first  time,  ad- 
dressed a  pastoral  letter  to  the  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  throughout  the  colonies.  The  spirit  of  this 
pastoral  was  such  as  to  inculcate  union  among  the  colo- 
nies, and  mutual  charity  and  good-will  among  the  dif- 
ferent religious  denominations,  and  the  promotion  of  good 
morals  and  good  government;  reformation  of  manners, 
personal  honesty  and  humanity  on  the  part  of  those  who 
might  soon  be  called  to  the  field,  as  a  conflict  of  arms  be- 
tween the  colonies  and  the  mother  country  seemed  inev- 
itable. The  synod  ordered  500  copies  of  this  pastoral 
letter  to  be  printed  at  its  own  expense,  and  circulated 
throughout  the  churches,  from  whose  pulpits  it  was  read 


THE    TROUBLOUS    TIMES.  1 99 

to  many  thousands.  "The  Presbyterian  Church,  by  this 
act  of  its  highest  judicature,  thus  took  its  stand  at  Phila- 
delphia by  the  side  of  the  American  (Continental)  Con- 
gress then  in  session  (in  the  same  city)  and  its  influence 
was  felt  in  a  most  decisive  manner  throughout  the  bounds 
of  the  church." 

The  Evil  Influence. — The  Revolutionary  War  had  a 
lamentably  bad  effect  upon  the  spirituality  of  the  denom- 
inations of  Christians  among  the  colonists,  and  perhaps 
upon  none  more  than  the  Presbyterians.  To  a  man  they 
were  patriots;  their  ministers  were  uniformly  among 
the  foremost  in  advocating  the  cause  of  civil  as  well  as 
religious  liberty,  and  oftentimes  they  took  the  lead.  As 
far  as  we  know,  nearly  all  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  who 
did  not  sympathize  with  the  established  church  in  the 
colonies  were  Whigs,  while  the  great  majority  of  the  rec- 
tors of  the  Episcopal  Church  were  Tories.  During  the 
war  these  incumbents  in  great  numbers  left  the  country 
and  returned  to  their  native  England,  as  they  had  been 
appointed  by  the  Bishop  of  London  to  livings  in  those 
colonies  wherein  the  English  church  was  established. 

The  political  turmoil  which  so  impaired  the  spiritual 
condition  of  the  churches  began  in  1765,  when  the  public 
mind  was  so  deeply  disturbed  by  the  Stamp  Act.  As  soon 
as  that  was  repealed  other  measures,  equally  as  obnoxious, 
were  either  adopted  or  threatened  by  parliament,  and  in 
consequence  the  political  agitation  among  the  colonists 
in  the  form  of  discussing  these  affairs  was  continuous 
until  hostilities  commenced.  From  that  time  forward  the 
spirituality  of  the  churches  was  greatly  demoralized,  in 
certain  vicinities  their  congregations  were  scattered  and 
their  Ohuilch  buildings  desecrated  by  the  British  sol- 
dierly. 

During  the  entire  war  the  Presbyterians  were  specially 
obnoxious  to  the  officers  of  the  British  army.    Their  min- 


200         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

isters  were  often  hounded  by  the  minions  of  the  former, 
the  Tories,  while  prices  were  set  upon  their  heads  by  the 
British  mihtary  authorities.  The  vast  majority  of  private 
members  of  the  Baptist,  Congregationalist  and  Presbyte- 
rian churches  were  Whigs  and  labored  and  fought  for 
their  country,  while  the  Quakers,  because  of  their  being 
from  principle  opposed  to  war  in  any  respect,  desired  to 
be  neutral,  yet  in  their  way  they  were  in  the  main  patriots. 
The  private  members  of  the  English  church  wherever  it 
was  established,  were  nearly  all  Tories  and  owing  to  their 
church  training  were  opposed  to  the  extension  of  per- 
fect religious  freedom  to  the  dissenters,  as  they 
contemptuously  termed  those  who  differed  in  their  re- 
ligious views  from  that  church.  This  could  be  said  of 
such  private  members  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  South 
Carolina  and  North  Carolina.  In  New  England,  where 
Congregationalism  and  Presbyterianism  prevailed,  the 
Tories  were  comparatively  few  when  compared  with  the 
patriots. 

The  Two  Movements. — During  the  latter  part  of  the 
hand-to-hand  contest  between  the  Virginia  Assembly  and 
the  Presbytery  of  Hanover,  another  important  movement 
was  also  in  progress  throughout  the  entire  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  discussions  in  respect  to  which  became  more 
earnest  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution  and 
the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  The  question  thus 
agitated  was  in  relation  to  a  plan  of  church  polity  that 
could  be  adapted  to  the  new  order  of  affairs,  which  had 
grown  out  of  the  separation  from  the  mother  country. 
These  Presbyterian  ministers  and  intelligent  laymen  took 
comprehensive  views  of  the  situation  of  their  church, 
which  was  now  free  and  untrammeled  to  extend  its  influ- 
ence over  a  continent.  It  had  already  crossed  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  and  in  two  divisions — one  in  East  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky,  the  other  in  Western  Pennsylvania — had  taken 


THE    TROUBLOUS    TIMES.  20I 

position  and  founded  churches  as  outposts  on  the  eastern 
edge  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

Meanwhile  another  movement  was  in  progress  in  re- 
spect to  the  civil  or  political  relations  of  the  States,  in 
which  the  leading  statesmen  and  intelligent,  thinking 
minds  took  an  absorbing  interest.  The  political  question 
was  in  what  manner  the  thirteen  States  could  be  consoli- 
dated into  one  government,  for  they  were  now  partially 
disintegrated,  since  the  resistance  to  the  common  enemy, 
which  had  held  them  so  long  in  union,  had  disappeared, 
when  peace  was  concluded  with  England,  The  lengthy  dis- 
cussions of  these  questions  of  government,  both  in  Church 
and  State,  no  doubt  elicited  a  sympathy  that  was  recip- 
rocal between  the  leading  minds  thus  engaged ;  especially 
can  this  be  said  of  those  statesmen  who  were  members  of 
the  churches  of  the  several  denominations,  while  in  re- 
spect to  civil  affairs  all  were  deeply  interested. 

Kinds  of  Church  Governments. — The  leading  princi- 
ples of  the  government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States — though  modeled  somewhat  after  that  of 
the  same  church  in  Scotland — were  from  the  first  repub- 
lican in  form;  that  is,  having  the  delegates  to  its  judica- 
tures chosen  by  the  people  or  church  members,  in  order 
that  the  former  might  be  truly  their  representatives.  This 
mode  of  government  was  so  constituted  that  it  could  be 
adapted  to  a  large  or  a  small  number  of  churches,  and  also 
to  a  large  or  small  number  of  the  members  of  each  church. 
As  a  matter  of  history,  it  may  be  noted  that  the  Presby- 
terian Church  established  this  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment (1705)  long  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  made,  and  it  has  continued  virtually  unchanged  in  its 
application  to  the  present  hour.  It  is  clearly  seen  that 
this  church  government  is  consistent  in  its  principles  with 
our  republican  institutions — both  National  and  State — 
that  were  afterward  established. 
15 


202  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

In  contradistinction  the  mode  of  church  government 
adopted  by  the  Congregationahsts  and  Baptists  was  dem- 
ocratic in  the  extreme,  and  limited  to  each  church,  while 
the  churches  themselves  were  virtually  independent  of  one 
another  in  respect  to  any  authorized  mode  of  discipline, 
or  of  a  uniform  confession  of  faith  or  doctrine.  In  ac- 
cordance with  this  theory  of  government,  there  could  be 
no  measures  introduced  which,  in  connection  with  church 
judicatures,  could  aid  practically  in  bringing  the  members 
of  their  own  churches  throughout  the  entire  country  into 
doctrinal  and  religious  sympathy  with  one  another;  in- 
stead, each  church  was  so  much  isolated  that  its  influence 
in  consequence  was  greatly  limited.  Before  the  Revolu- 
tion the  Church  of  England  in  America  was  governed  by 
that  of  the  mother  country,  and  almost  without  reference 
to  the  wishes  of  its  church  members.  Its  rectors  being 
appointed  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  under  whose  jurisdic- 
tion the  churches  of  the  establishment  in  the  American 
colonies  were  placed,  and,  in  addition  to  this  arrangement, 
the  colonial  governors  had  the  absolute  authority  of  in- 
ducting or  not  as  they  pleased  these  rectors  into  their 
sacred  office. 

The  genius  for  systematic  government  seems,  from  the 
very  first,  to  have  imbued  the  minds  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  as  well  as  those  of  its  intelligent 
laymen ;  the  latter  always  being  associated  with  the  former 
in  the  exercise  of  such  government.  This  method  as- 
sures the  individual  members  of  the  church  that  they 
themselves  by  means  of  their  representatives — the  elders 
— have  a  voice  in  the  management  of  its  affairs;  such 
knowledge  also  enhances  their  own  individual  responsi- 
bility to  aid  in  promoting  the  extension  of  the  gospel 
through  the  medium  of  their  own  church,  by  means  of 
their  personal  Christian  character  and  their  contributions. 

A    Comprehensive    Church    Government. — After    the 


THE    TROUBLOUS    TIMES.  203 

close  of  the  Revolution  and  when  the  States  were  in  their 
respective  governments  independent  of  one  another,  it 
would  seem  the  Continental  Congress,  nominally  a  legis- 
lative body  over  all,  had  little  influence,  as  the  laws  it 
enacted  rose  only  to  the  dignity  of  recommendations. 
The  far-sighted  ministers  and  laymen  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  saw  the  necessity  for  a  more  comprehensive  appli- 
cation of  their  system  of  government  in  order  to  promote 
unity  of  the  church  throughout  the  land ;  at  the  same  time 
the  leading  statesmen  of  the  now  disintegrated  States  were 
devising  for  them  a  more  compact  union,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  a  general  government  in  which  all  should  be  com- 
prehended. The  former  foreshadowed  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  latter  the 
National  government  of  the  United  States.  Both  were 
representative  bodies ;  the  delegates  to  the  one  were  duly 
authorized  to  represent  the  people  or  church  members ;  to 
take  cognizance  of  the  fundamental  doctrines,  and  a  uni- 
form discipline,  and  all  affairs  that  related  to  the  well- 
being  and  prosperity  of  the  whole  church,  while  matters 
of  a  local  nature  were  left  to  the  supervision  of  the  minor 
judicatures;  the  other  to  legislate  on  all  affairs  foreign 
and  domestic  that  pertained  to  the  whole  Nation,  while 
local  matters  were  intrusted  to  the  care  of  the  individual 
States. 

The  church  was  the  first  to  move  in  inaugurating  this 
comprehensive  system,  and  as  if  these  men  had  a  pre- 
vision of  the  vastness  of  the  territory  occupied  to-day  by 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  plan  was  so  devised  that  it 
could  be  adjusted  to  all  probable  exigencies  that  might 
occur,  and  in  respect  to  such  adaptation  it  has  been  found 
adequate.  Meanwhile  the  secular  or  political  world  was 
moving  on  parallel  lines  in  the  effort  to  form  a  more 
united  government  under  a  constitution. 

Discordant    and    Rival    States. — The    several    States, 


204         A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

though  neighboring,  were  virtually  independent  of  each 
other,  and  history  records  that  they  were  more  or  less 
governed  by  selfish  interests,  which  caused  anxiety  in  in- 
telligent minds,  as  to  whereunto  these  evils  would  grow. 
This  spirit  of  gain  was  specially  manifest  in  the  States 
that  had  suitable  harbors,  and  they  yielded  to  the  tempta- 
tion of  imposing  duties  on  imported  merchandise  in  such 
manner  as  to  advance  each  one's  own  interests  irrespective 
of  the  general  effect  upon  their  neighbors.  This  condi- 
tion of  affairs  induced  the  influential  men  in  the  several 
States  to  take  measures  for  remedying  these  evils  by 
bringing  about  a  union,  thus  consolidating  them  into  one 
government  that  they  might  become  in  fact,  as  well  as  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  a  Nation.  George  Washington  said 
"We  must  have  a  government  under  one  constitution ;  we 
must  treat  with  other  nations  as  a  whole,  for  we  cannot 
separately."  This  political  agitation  continued  from  the 
disbandment  of  the  Continental  army  to  the  formation  of 
the  United  States  Constitution  and  its  adoption  by  the 
people  (1783-1788).  During  this  period  of  four  or  five 
years,  one  or  two  local  conventions  were  held  by  dele- 
gates from  neighboring  districts,  but  never  before  from  all 
the  States  did  delegates  assemble,  until  in  the  great  con- 
vention held  in  Philadelphia  in  1787,  which  framed 
the  present  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  under 
which,  after  it  had  been  adopted  by  the  people,  George 
Washington  was  inaugurated  President  (1789),  and  we 
began  our  national  life. 


XXII. 

The  General  Assembly  Arranged  For. 

The  movement  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  began  prac- 
tically in  1785,  when,  as  preliminary  to  constituting  a 
representative  judicature  of  last  resort  for  the  church 
throughout  the  whole  land,  a  motion  was  made  to  divide 
the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  into  three 
synods.  The  following  year  the  motion  was  amended  so 
as  to  read  three  or  more  synods ;  the  latter  provision  cov- 
ered the  whole  ground,  as  it  left  the  number  of  synods  to 
be  extended  according  to  circumstances,  while  over  all  it 
was  in  contemplation  to  constitute  a  General  Assembly — 
the  delegates  to  which,  were  to  come  as  representatives 
from  the  presbyteries,  not  from  the  synods — ^the  former 
being  in  more  direct  relations  with  the  people  or  church 
members.  There  is  not  a  self-perpetuating  judicature  in 
the  church,  since  all  its  members  derive  their  authority  as 
such,  ultimately  from  the  church  members  themselves, 
with  whom  is  lodged  the  power  of  choosing  their  repre- 
sentatives, as  it  is  in  our  civil  government. 

Increase  of  the  Church. — A  brief  notice  of  the  Amer- 
ican Presbyterian  Church  at  this  period  may  interest  the 
reader.  The  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  had 
been  in  existence  thirty  years,  and  it  was  now  to  be  di- 
vided into  four  synods.  It  had  received  230  ministers  as 
new  members,  and  had  grown  from  eight  presbyteries  to 
sixteen,  under  whose  care  were  420  churches;  of  these, 
380  were  south  of  New  York  State,  while  in  the  latter 
were  forty.     The  great  body  of  the  ministers  were  native 


2o6  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

born  and  educated  in  the  bosom  of  the  church.  The 
others  came  for  the  most  part  from  the  Presbyterian 
churches  in  Scotland  and  North  Ireland.  The  synod  had 
(1786)  under  its  control  churches  on  the  Atlantic  slope 
extending  from  the  State  of  Connecticut  to  Florida,  and 
also  beyond  the  Alleghanies  in  Western  Pennsylvania  and 
in  Middle  Kentucky. 

Four  Synods  Organised. — The  synod  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  according  to  its  own  resolution,  was  di- 
vided and  arranged  into  four  synods,  having  the  follow- 
ing names:  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Philadelphia, 
Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas.  The  first  synod  included  the 
Presbyteries  of  Suffolk,  Dutchess,  New  York,  and  New 
Brunswick;  the  second,  those  of  Philadelphia,  Lewes, 
New  Castle,  Baltimore,  and  Carlisle;  the  third,  those  of 
Hanover,  Lexington,  Redstone,  and  Transylvania;  the 
fourth,  those  of  Abingdon,  Orange,  and  South  Carolina. 
The  third  or  Virginia  synod  covered  by  far  the  greatest 
extent  of  territory,  as  it  alone  extended  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, including  the  Redstone  Presbytery  in  Pennslyvania 
and  the  Transylvania  in  Kentucky. 

It  is  easily  seen  that  the  ministers  or  pastors  of  these 
churches,  scattered  over  so  extensive  a  territory,  found  it 
exceedingly  difficult  to  attend  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
synod,  as  required  by  the  rule,  and  that  in  consequence 
the  important  and  beneficial  influence  of  such  frequent 
and  fraternal  intercourse  was  much  diminished,  but  by 
having  four  synods  such  advantage  could  be  in  a  measure 
retained,  as  the  ministers  would  be  more  able  to  attend 
the  meetings. 

Alterations  in  the  constitution  being  required  in  order 
to  apply  to  the  new  condition  of  church  affairs,  a  commit- 
tee was  appointed  to  prepare  such  constitution.  The 
committee  was  instructed  "to  examine  the  Book  of  Dis- 
cipline and  Government,  and  digest  such  a  system  as  they 


THE    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY    ARRANGED     FOR.  207 

should  think  adapted  to  the  state  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  America."  It  was  also  arranged  that  this  draft 
or  plan  of  the  committee  should  be  printed  and  sent  down 
to  the  presbyteries,  "who  were  required  to  report  in  writ- 
ing their  observations  upon  it  at  the  next  meeting  of 
synod."  The  committee  performed  this  duty  and  sent  the 
plan  to  the  presbyteries,  and  the  latter  presented  their 
observations  to  the  synod  at  its  meeting  in  1787.  After 
thorough  discussion  and  adoption  of  amendments,  the 
plan  of  government  and  discipline  agreed  upon  by  the 
synod  was  then  ordered  to  be  printed  and  again  sent  to 
the  presbyteries  "for  their  consideration,  and  also  for  the 
consideration  of  the  churches  under  their  care,"  thus 
recognizing  the  propriety  of  consulting  the  church  mem- 
bers. This  plan  of  government  was  also  to  be  reported 
and  acted  upon  at  the  meeting  of  synod  the  following 
year,  1788.  The  plan  having  been  discussed  and  ap- 
proved by  the  presbyteries  and  churches  was  returned  to 
the  synod,  which,  in  due  form,  ratified  the  former's  action, 
and  resolved :  "That  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the 
above  ratification  by  the  synod  is  that  the  Form  of  Gov- 
ernment and  Discipline  and  the  Confession  of  Faith,  as 
now  ratified,  are  to  continue  to  be  our  Constitution  and 
Confession  of  Faith  and  practice  unalterably,  unless  two- 
thirds  of  the  presbyteries  shall  propose  amendments,  and 
these  shall  be  agreed  to  and  enacted  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly" (Dr.  Hodge,  p.  414). 

The  General  Assembly  Constituted. — On  the  adoption 
of  the  plan  the  synod  ordered  that  the  General  Assembly 
about  to  be  called  into  existence  should  consist  of  delegates 
from  the  several  presbyteries  in  the  ratio  of  one  minister 
and  one  elder  for  every  six  members  or  ministers  belong- 
ing to  the  presbytery.  The  synod  divided  itself  into 
four,  in  accordance  with  the  act  of  1786,  as  already  noted. 
Then  it  was  ordered :  "That  the  first  meeting  of  the  Gen- 


2o8         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

eral  Assembly  to  be  constituted  out  of  the  above  synods 
be  held  at  ii  a.  m.  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May,  1789,  in 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of  Philadel- 
phia." Dr.  Witherspoon  was  appointed  "to  open  the  as- 
sembly with  a  sermon,  and  to  preside  till  a  moderator  was 
chosen."  Its  organization  being  completed,  the  presby- 
teries were  enjoined,  in  accordance  with  the  rules  laid 
down,  to  elect  and  send  delegates  to  the  assembly  which 
was  to  meet  in  1789. 

TheAddr£ss  to  President  Washington. — George  Wash- 
ington had  been  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States  in  New  York  City  only  a  few  weeks  previous  to  this 
first  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  in  Philadelphia  in 
May,  1789.  In  this  connection  we  notice  two  coinci- 
dences. The  leading  men  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and 
the  leading  men  of  the  States  had  been  moving  on  parallel 
lines  in  the  effort  to  secure  a  more  comprehensive  govern- 
ment both  for  the  church  and  the  nation.  Both  went 
into  operation  within  a  few  weeks  of  each  other,  and  both 
having  remained  virtually  unchanged  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury, give  evidence  of  the  excellencies  of  the  respective 
systems,  which,  as  such,  have  been  recognized  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  nation  and  by  the  members  of  the  church. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  assembly  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  Its  chairman  was  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  who  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  had  been  a  member  of 
the  Continental  Congress  during  the  troublous  times  of 
the  Revolution,  and  was  now  president  of  Princeton  Col- 
lege. Dr.  John  Rodgers  was  his  alternate.  The  com- 
mittee's report  was  quite  lengthy,  but  being  appropriate 
in  terms  and  in  tone,  it  was  received  and  approved  by  the 
Assembly,  who  directed  the  presentation  to  be  made. 
After  referring  to  Washington's  past  career  as  a  soldier. 


THE    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY    ARRANGED     FOR.  209 

a  patriot,  and  a  statesman;  to  his  voluntary  retirement 
from  public  affairs  to  the  longed-for  rest  and  quiet  of  pri- 
vate life,  and  especially  to  his  self-denial  in  the  acceptance 
of  the  office  of  President,  at  the  unanimous  call  of  the  peo- 
ple, they  say:  "A  man  more  ambitious  of  fame,  or  less 
devoted  to  his  country,  would  have  refused  an  office  in 
which  his  honors  could  not  be  augmented.  *  *  *  We 
are  happy  that  God  has  inclined  your  heart  to  give  your- 
self once  more  to  the  public.  But  we  derive  a  presage 
even  more  flattering  from  the  piety  of  your  character. 
Public  virtue  is  the  most  certain  means  of  public  felicity, 
and  religion  is  the  surest  basis  of  virtue.  We  therefore 
esteem  it  a  peculiar  happiness  to  behold  in  our  Chief 
Magistrate  a  steady,  uniform,  avowed  friend  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  who  on  the  most  public  and  solemn  oc- 
casions devoutly  acknowledges  the  government  of  Divine 
Providence."  They  define  also  their  own  position,  say- 
ing :  "We  shall  consider  ourselves  as  doing  an  acceptable 
service  to  God  in  our  profession  when  we  contribute  to 
render  men  sober,  honest,  and  industrious  citizens,  and  the 
obedient  subjects  of  a  lawful  government."  They  closed 
with  the  prayer  that  God  would  prolong  his  valuable  life 
and  continue  him  a  blessing  to  his  country.  To  this  ad- 
dress Washington  replied  in  appropriate  terms,  ac- 
knowledging his  gratification  at  their  good-will,  and  co- 
inciding with  them  in  declaring  his  "dependence  upon 
Heaven  as  the  source  of  all  public  and  private  blessings," 
and  that  "piety,  philanthropy,  honesty,  industry,  and 
economy  seem,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human  affairs, 
particularly  necessary  for  advancing  and  confirming  the 
happiness  of  the  country."  He  closed  by  thanking  the 
assembly  for  their  efforts  "to  render  men  sober,  honest, 
and  good  citizens,  and  the  obedient  subjects  of  a  lawful 
government,"  and  for  their  prayers  for  the  country  and 
for  himself. 


2IO         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Doctrinal  Truth  Guarded. — Doctrinal  truth,  as  em- 
bodied in  its  standards,  has  been  carefully  guarded  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  ever  since  1729,  when  the  adopting 
act  (page  113)  was  agreed  upon  as  a  rule,  by  which  ex- 
aminations, thenceforth,  Avere  required  as  to  doctrine  of 
the  ministers  desiring  admission  to  the  church,  as  well  as 
of  their  own  licentiates.  This  rule  had  been  virtually  in 
force  and  carried  out  for  fifty-nine  years.  Afterward,  in 
1788,  when  the  synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  took  measures  to  organize  a  General 
Assembly  for  the  entire  church,  they  also,  as  a  summary 
of  Christian  doctrine  for  the  same,  "ratified  and  adopted 
the  Larger  Catechism;"  this  summary  has  been  in  force 
in  the  church  down  to  the  present  time.  These  two  his- 
torical facts  may  account  for  one  peculiarity  that  has  al- 
ways been  present  in  the  several  divisions  and  reunions 
that  have  occurred  in  times  past  within  the  Presbyterian 
Church — not  one  of  them  has  been  on  distinctively  doc- 
trinal grounds;  other  causes  have  intervened.  It  is  true 
there  have  been  within  the  last  half  century  one  or  two  in- 
stances in  the  church,  in  which  individual  ministers  have 
been  charged  in  regular  form  before  theirpresbyteries  with 
holding  doctrines  inconsistent  with  the  Confession  of 
Faith.  But  these  exceptions  did  not  impugn  the  doctrinal 
faith  of  the  church  itself.  The  charges  appear  to  have 
grown  out  of  misapprehension  of  the  real  views  of  these 
good  and  eminent  men. 

The  salutary  effect  of  this  care  in  preserving  in  their 
purity  the  doctrinal  standards  of  that  church,  is  mani- 
fested in  the  uniformity  with  which  the  essential  truths 
of  the  gospel  are,  and  ever  have  been,  preached  by  its 
ministers  in  good  and  regular  standing.  Though,  as  we 
have  seen  in  relation  to  its  own  doctrines  and  polity,  the 
Presbyterian  Church  is  exceedingly  strict,  yet  it  is  liberal 
toward  other  evangelical   denominations,  and  deems  as 


THE     GENERAL    ASSEMBLY    ARRANGED     FOR.  211 

valid  their  rite  of  baptism  in  whatever  form  administered, 
and  also  recognizes  the  validity  of  their  ordaining  men 
to  the  sacred  office,  whether  of  one  order  or  of  three. 

A  Christianized  Patriotism. — We  will,  therefore,  speak 
only  of  those  advantages  that  in  the  future  may  be  the 
outgrowth  of  the  free  and  untrammeled  extension  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  Union,  wherein,  with  the  Divine  blessing,  it  will 
have  facilities  for  applying  its  principles  in  developing  a 
Christianized  patriotism.  A  patriotism  that  will  have  an 
eye  not  only  to  the  material  progress  of  the  country,  but 
to  the  promotion  of  a  practical  union  of  national  feeling 
and  sympathy  between  the  people  of  every  section  ;  if  they 
all  practice  the  precepts  of  the  golden  rule.  The  type 
of  patriotism  includes  an  element  unknown  to  the  patriots 
of  Greece  and  Rome.  The  latter  looked  no  further  than 
to  promote  the  public  safety  and  welfare,  but  only  in  a 
material  point  of  view — for  when  did  their  leading  men 
make  an  effort  to  elevate  the  people  morally?  Christian- 
ity adds  the  brotherhood  of  man,  a  principle  that  through 
the  medium  of  the  churches  of  every  denomination  can  be 
applied  specially  to  our  own  household — the  American 
people. 

Ex-ofljcio  Members. — In  the  meetings  of  the  judicatures 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  there  are,  strictly,  no  ex-of- 
Rcio  members.  The  only  one  that  approaches  that  posi- 
tion is  the  moderator  of  a  previous  assembly,  who,  by  the 
rule,  "if  present,"  preaches  an  opening  sermon  and  pre- 
sides till  a  new  moderator  is  chosen.  In  truth,  his  pres- 
ence depends  on  a  contingency,  because  his  presbytery 
may  not  send  him  as  their  delegate.  History  demon- 
strates that  ex-officio  or  hereditary  members  of  church 
judicatures  or  of  parliaments — being  less  in  direct  sym- 
pathy with  the  church  members  or  with  the  people  at 
large — are  the  persistent  opponents  of  changes  and  meas- 


212  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ures  that  are  designed  to  result  in  reforms,  and  to  which 
they  seldom  give  their  sanction  unless  compelled  by  popu- 
lar pressure ;  much  less  do  they  lead  in  such  movements. 

Voting  by  Orders. — The  system  of  voting  by  orders  in 
church  judicatures  seems  to  be  unfair,  unless  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  members  of  the  higher  order  have  in  the 
aggregate  as  much  brains  and  intelligence  as  the  aggre- 
gate of  the  same  qualifications  belonging  to  the  members 
of  the  lozver.  The  higher  house  or  order  has  in  number 
fewer  members,  but  they  are  ex-officio;  the  lower  has  a 
greater  number,  but  who  are  presumed  to  be  equally  edu- 
cated. The  result  of  such  rule  is,  that  a  vote  in  the  higher 
order,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  worth  from  five  to  eight 
times  as  much  as  one  in  the  lower — its  value  being  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  members  respectively  present  in 
each  order.  Nor  is  the  unfairness  of  voting  by  orders 
obviated,  when  it  depends  upon  the  contingency  of  a  lim- 
ited minority  of  either  order,  demanding  that  the  vote 
should  be  by  orders.  Such  rule  is  very  liable  to  be 
abused.  It  may  be  known,  or  supposed,  that  one  order 
is  in  favor  of  a  certain  measure,  while  the  other  is  not; 
the  latter,  by  using  the  prerogative  of  a  limited  minority, 
can  frustrate  a  full  expression  of  opinion  of  botii  ^."ders 
by  preventing  a  joint  vote. 

The  mode  of  constituting  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  leaves  the  way  open  from  year  to 
year  for  a  change  in  its  membership,  as  it  does  not  ad- 
journ to  meet  the  following  year,  but  dissolves,  while  the 
choice  and  election  of  individual  delegates  to  the  next 
assembly  depend  upon  the  will  of  the  presbyteries.  The 
delegates,  therefore,  come  fresh  from  the  people  or  church 
members — a  principle  recognized  in  constituting  the 
lower  house  of  Congress  and  the  House  of  Commons  in 
England,  hence  the  propriety  of  the  rule   that    financial 


THE    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY    ARRANGED     FOR.  213 

measures,  in  which    the  people  are  specially    interested, 
must  originate  respectively  in  these  two  houses. 

The  Ecclesiastical  Despotism. — All  the  Protestant  de- 
nominations in  the  Union  act  in  accordance  with  the  spirit 
of  the  civil  institutions  of  the  land  when  they  recognize 
the  right  of  the  laity  to  have  a  share  in  the  management 
of  their  own  church  affairs.  In  this  respect  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  in  marked  con- 
trast, inasmuch  as  the  rule  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
priests,  the  laity  being  rigorously  excluded.  By  this  sys- 
tem the  intelligent  and  representative  lay  members  of 
that  communion  have  no  opportunity,  through  being  mem- 
bers of  church  judicatures,  for  cultivating  fraternal  and 
Christian  intercourse  with  their  fellow-members  through- 
cut  the  Union.  On  the  contrary,  the  government  of  that 
church  is  an  ecclesiastical  despotism ;  it  ignores  the  rights 
of  its  own  lay  members,  and  is  antagonistic  to  the  spirit 
of  our  political  institutions — State  and  National. 


XXIII. 
Presbyterian  Movements  in  the  South. 

We  now  resume  the  narrative.  The  Presbyterians  in 
the  southern  end  of  the  valley  of  Virginia  continued  to 
make  inroads  on  the  wilderness  on  either  hand,  numbers 
of  them  following  the  course  of  the  Holston,  formed  set- 
tlements in  its  valley  in  Southwestern  Virginia,  and  after- 
ward in  what  is  now  East  Tennessee.  These  immigrants 
increased  so  much  that  to  supply  their  spiritual  wants 
more  effectively,  the  Presbytery  of  Abingdon  was  erected 
out  of  that  of  Hanover.  To  it  was  assigned  the  care  of 
the  churches  in  Southwestern  Virginia,  and  in  the  ad- 
jacent parts  of  North  Carolina,  and  those  in  the  valley 
of  the  Holston  in  Tennessee.  Within  twelve  years  the 
Presbytery  of  Abingdon  had  under  its  care  nearly  forty 
congregations ;  of  these  nineteen  were  in  Tennessee,  seven 
in  North  Carolina  and  the  remainder  in  Virginia,  Num- 
bers of  these  congregations,  however,  were  without  set- 
tled pastors,  and  were  served  by  the  neighboring  ministers 
or  by  missionaries. 

The  Migration. — Down  the  Holston  was  the  southwest- 
ern route  of  the  pioneers  of  Presbyterianism,  thence  amid 
the  Alleghanies  into  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi;  it  cor- 
responded to  the  northern  route,  over  the  same  mountains 
to  the  valleys  of  the  head  streams  of  the  Ohio,  already 
noted.  Out  of  the  Abingdon  was  carved  in  1786  the 
Presbytery  of  Transylvania,  which  at  first  numbered  only 
■five  ministers.  One  of  these  five,  David  Rice,  was  the 
first  Presbyterian  minister  who  went  to    Kentucky    and 


PRESBYTERIAN     MOVEMENTS     IN     THE    SOUTH.  215 

who  may  be  deemed  the  founder  of  that  church  in  that 
region — he  deserves  a  grateful  recognition.  After  an 
uninterrupted  labor  of  thirty-three  years  he  was  per- 
mitted to  see  his  beloved  church  extended  and  exerting  a 
benign  influence  throughout  the  entire  State.  A  man  of 
Christian  temper  and  zeal  and  strengthened  by  decision  of 
character,  he  commanded  the  respect  of  the  outside  world, 
and  the  love  of  church  members,  so  that  all  joined  in 
giving  him  the  affectionate  title  of  "Father  Rice."  He 
came  from  Virginia,  where  he  had  been  a  pastor  beloved 
for  a  number  of  years,  to  the  Territory  of  Kentucky  in 
1783 — nine  years  before  it  became  a  State.  A  fine  scholar, 
a  graduate  of  Princeton;  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover  and  a  well-read  theologian.  In  his  new  home  he 
took  an  advanced  position  in  favor  of  education.  He  was 
a  staunch  friend  of  Transylvania  University,  and  was  for 
many  years  the  president  of  its  board  of  trustees.  He 
battled  successfully  against  errors  in  theology  and  the 
peculiar  phase  of  politico-iniidelity  that  was  in  vogue  for  a 
time  in  the  State.  The  Master  released  him  from  his 
earthly  duties  in  his  eighty-third  year  (i8i6),  but  not 
until  he  was  permitted  to  see  the  gospel  triumphant 
where  once  infidelity  alone  seemed  to  reign. 

The  Presbytery  of  Transylvania  had  under  its  care  the 
churches  in  Kentucky,  and  even  across  the  Ohio,  those  in 
the  immediate  vicinity.  An  unbroken  wilderness  of  two 
hundred  miles  intervened  between  these  settlements  in 
Kentucky  and  those  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Holston. 
The  military  grants  of  land  given  to  settlers  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania,  induced  an 
unusually  large  immigration  of  bold  and  hardy  men,  who 
had  already  been  schooled  in  the  peculiar  trials  and  risks 
of  a  wilderness  filled  with  skulking  foes.  Owing  to  this 
influx,  the  population  within  the  bounds  of  Transylvania 
presbytery  soon  outstripped  that  of  the  Abingdon. 


2l6  A     HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

The  Three  Pioneer  Ministers. — The  first  Presbyterian 
minister  that  came  as  pastor  to  the  people  on  the  Holston 
(1773)  was  the  Rev.  Charles  Cummings,  who  was  a 
member  of  Hanover  Presbytery  and  had  labored  a  num- 
ber of  years  in  Augusta  County,  Virginia.  One  hundred 
and  thirty  heads  of  families  in  two  adjacent  congrega- 
tions signed  the  call  for  his  services.  The  settlers  were 
mostly  from  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  The  Revolu- 
tionary War  was  impending  and  the  Indians  were  hostile. 
Mr.  Cummings  was  often  in  danger  of  his  life.  He  never 
went  to  his  church  without  being  armed,  as  well  as  the 
other  male  members  of  his  congregation.  On  Sabbath 
morning  he  would  "put  on  his  shot-pouch,  shoulder  his 
rifle,  mount  his  horse  and  ride  to  church."  After  placing 
his  arms  within  reach,  he  would  preach  two  sermons,  with 
a  short  interval  between.  For  more  than  thirty  years  this 
pioneer  and  devoted  servant  labored  in  Tennessee,  till  the 
Master  withdrew  him  from  the  work.  During  this  time, 
he,  also,  performed  an  immense  amount  of  missionary 
labor  among  the  scattered  churches  in  the  region. 

Another  strenuous  laborer  was  added  to  this  band  of 
Presbyterian  ministers  when  in  1785  Hezekiah  Balch  came 
as  a  missionary  to  the  region  now  known  as  East  Ten- 
nessee. He  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  and  deeply 
imbued  with  the  importance  of  education  in  a  community. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  he  was  indefatigable  in  the 
performance  of  his  missionary  and  pastoral  duties,     {See 

P-  1 3 5-) 

In  1788  Robert  Henderson  was  licensed  to  preach  the 
gospel  by  the  Presbytery  of  Abingdon.  He  at  once  en- 
tered upon  his  duties  as  a  missionary  and  a  fitting  co- 
laborer  of  Mr.  Balch.  Henderson  was  unique  in  his  char- 
acter ;  a  stranger  to  fear  when  duty  commanded ;  no  mat- 
ter how  hostile  the  audience,  he  would  fearlessly  preach 
the  truth.     A  prevailing  sin  of  the  community  at  that  time 


PRESBYTERIAN     MOVEMENTS    IN     THE    SOUTH.  217 

was  the  vulgar  and  senseless  one  of  profanity.  On  one 
occasion  Henderson  determined  to  rebuke  that  form  of 
vice  in  a  sermon.  Though  he  saw  in  his  audience  many 
men  of  influence,  but  who  were  notoriously  profane  swear- 
ers, instead  of  being  over-awed,  his  courage  never 
wavered,  and  he  lashed  them  without  mercy.  He  had  "a 
matchles  power  of  mimicry  and  a  perfect  command  of 
voice  and  countenance  and  attitude  of  gesture — his  flashes 
of  wit  or  grotesquely  humorous  illustrations  would  break 
from  him  in  spite  of  himself."  Then,  again,  perhaps  in 
the  same  sermon  his  bold,  passionate  and  grand  appeals 
would  almost  make  his  hearers  tremble,  or  by  his  inde- 
scribable and  earnest  pathos  allure  them  into  sympathy 
with  his  own  emotions.  He  influenced  the  people  who 
were  outside  the  pale  of  the  church  almost  as  much  as 
those  within  it. 

Retarding  Influences. — The  incident  just  related  re- 
veals a  form  of  immorality  that  was  common  among  the 
backwoodsmen  of  that  region,  and  with  which  the  min- 
isters had  to  contend  much  more  than  their  brethren  in 
Western  Pennsylvania.  The  settlers  of  the  latter,  before 
they  moved  across  the  Alleghanies  into  that  section  from 
New  Jersey  and  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  had  been  better 
trained  under  gospel  influences  and  were  more  prosperous 
in  worldly  affairs  than  those  who  migrated  from  Vir- 
ginia and  the  Carolinas  into  the  western  wilderness.  For 
a  long  time,  the  latter  had  been  subjected  to  being  bur- 
dened in  the  form  of  tithes  paid  to  the  established  church, 
in  addition  to  the  support  of  their  own  churches  and 
schools.  In  consequence  of  these  and  other  drawbacks, 
such  as  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  colonial  govern- 
ment in  respect  to  the  number  and  location  of  meeting- 
houses, the  private  members  of  the  Presbyterian  churches 
from  which  migrations  went  into  Tennessee  and  Ken- 
tucky were  not  on  so  high  a  plane  of  general  intelligence 
16 


2l8  A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

and  of  biblical  knowledge  as  those  who  removed  to  West- 
ern Pennsylvania.  The  latter,  having  more  advantages, 
were  better  trained  in  their  youth  by  parents  and  min- 
isters in  the  knowledge  of  Bible  truths  and  in  the  West- 
minster Confession  and  the  catechisms.  The  population 
on  the  head  streams  of  the  Ohio,  had,  therefore,  in  the 
main  much  more  respect  for  religion  and  morals,  than  the 
settlers  of  East  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 

The  Sabbath  Desecrated. — The  immigrants  to  Western 
Pennsylvania,  almost  from  the  first,  took  with  them  their 
families,  while  it  was  many  years  before  their  southern 
brethren  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  because  of  hostile 
Indians,  dared  risk  that  privilege.  Being  thus  deprived 
of  the  amenities  of  domestic  life,  these  pioneers  became 
quite  rude  in  their  manners — to  reform  which  took 
many  years.  The  main  portion  of  these  backwoodsmen 
seemed  to  have  left  their  religion  behind,  when  they 
crossed  the  mountains.  They  appeared  as  reckless  of 
personal  danger  as  they  were  fearless  of  the  consequences 
of  sin.  Among  them  that  efficient  preserver  of  good 
morals — the  Sabbath — was  not  merely  disregarded,  but 
was  habitually  desecrated;  in  contrast  with  its  being  re- 
ligiously and  even  punctiliously  observed  among  the  Pres- 
byterians on  the  upper  Ohio.  The  custom  of  horse-racing, 
copied  from  the  Cavaliers  of  Virginia,  though  then  scarcely 
known  in  the  north,  was  prevalent  in  the  south.  This 
amusement  became  the  occasion  of  much  betting  and 
gambling  and  the  kindred  vices  of  drunkenness  and  pro- 
fanity, and  still  worse,  it  was  often  patronized  by  men  of 
standing  in  the  community,  thus  giving  the  sport  a  certain 
phase  of  respectability.  The  Presbyterian  ministers 
found  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  counteract  this  evil  in- 
fluence. On  the  contrary,  in  the  settlements  in  the  val- 
leys of  the  upper  Ohio  the  vices  of  gambling,  drunken- 
ness and  profane  swearing  were  not  much  in  vogue,  as 


Rev.  Francis  Herron,  D.  D. 
(271, 272.) 


PRESBYTERIAN     MOVEMENTS     IN     THE     SOUTH.  219 

they  were  under  the  ban  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  peo- 
ple, while  horse-racing  was  unknown.  In  consequence  of 
these  characteristics  of  the  population  of  this  southern 
region,  a  different  style  of  preaching  was  required  from 
that  in  the  northern,  where  the  soil  was  better  prepared 
for  the  reception  of  the  seed  of  the  gospel  and  the  promo- 
tion of  its  growth. 

The  Surv£yor  and  His  News. — Tradition  tells  that  cer- 
tain of  these  Southern  pioneers,  who  had  advanced  into 
the  wilderness  far  beyond  the  old  settlements,  had  agreed 
for  their  mutual  benefit  and  to  avoid  future  legal  contests 
to  have  the  boundaries  of  their  respective  clearings  or 
farms  definitely  and  legally  fixed  by  the  authorized  sur- 
veyor, and  their  farms  entered  by  land-warrants.  An 
official  surveyor  was  sent  by  the  State  authorities  for  the 
purpose,  and  in  anticipation  of  his  arrival,  by  mutual 
agreement  the  settlers  from  far  and  wide  assembled  at  a 
central  position  in  order  to  meet  him.  The  place  chosen 
was  known  as  the  Fork;  that  is,  the  junction  of  the  rivers 
Holston  and  French  Broad,  which  there  form  the  Ten- 
nessee. 

When  the  surveyor  arrived  he  was  questioned  eagerly 
as  to  the  news  from  the  old  settlements  beyond  the  moun- 
tains. Amid  the  information  of  various  kinds  that  he 
communicated,  was  incidentally  mentioned  that  it  was 
rumored  a  Presbyterian  minister  named  Samuel  Carrick' 
was  to  be  sent  to  them  as  a  missionary.  The  whole  as- 
sembly was  startled,  and  still  more  eagerly  they  asked 
could  it  be  true  that  a  preacher  was  coming  to  them  ?  The 
special  work  for  which  the  surveyor  had  come  was  for 
the  time  thrust  aside.  Conscience  was  aroused,  and  these 
rough  and  stalwart  men  were  overwhelmed  with  deep 
emotions.  The  prospect  of  a  minister  coming  to  them 
called  to  their  remembrance  the  days  of  their  childhood 
and  youth  when  under  the  tender  care  of  pious  parents 


220  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

they  had  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  Christian  homes  and 
the  services  of  the  Lord's  day.  Amid  the  excitements 
and  dangers  of  a  frontier  life,  the  hallowed  influences  that 
blest  their  youth  had  faded;  for  years  they  had  been  far 
away  from  Christian  sanctuaries;  the  Sabbath  with  them 
had  no  longer  been  held  sacred;  they  had  become  reck- 
less of  danger  and  fearless  in  sin.  They  at  once  resolved 
to  invite  the  new  minister  to  visit  them  and  henceforth 
be  their  pastor.  They  manifested  their  sincerity  by  im- 
mediately taking  measures  to  raise  a  fund  sufficient  for 
his  support. 

The  Founding  of  a  Church. — The  surveyor  carried  back 
the  invitation,  and  also  told  of  the  eagerness  of  these  back- 
woodsmen to  once  more  enjoy  the  religious  privileges  of 
their  youth,  and  secure  them  for  their  own  children.  At 
length,  Rev.  Samuel  Carrick  came  (about  1789),  and  a 
day  was  named  on  which  he  was  to  preach  his  first  sermon. 
The  place  chosen  for  the  meeting  was  an  open  space  in  the 
primitive  forest,  at  the  Fork,  and  near  an  Indian  mound. 
On  the  same  spot  now  stands  the  Lebanon  Presbyterian 
Church.  This  first  sermon  was  heard  by  a  great  crowd, 
some  of  whom  came  long  distances,  even  from  the  adja- 
cent counties,  for  the  news  of  the  preaching  was  sent  far 
and  wide.  These  settlers  were  all  armed  with  their  rifles 
as  a  guard  against  the  hostile  Cherokees,  and  they  were 
clad  in  the  coarse  cloth  of  their  domestic  manufacture. 

Carrick  was  most  efficient,  visiting  from  settlement  to 
settlement  and  from  house  to  house.  Parents  presented 
their  children  for  baptism,  and  resumed  their  sacramental 
vows,  while  a  blessed  religious  influence  pervaded  the  re- 
gion. Mr.  Carrick  finally  settled  as  pastor  of  the  Lebanon 
church  in  connection  with  one  in  Knoxville,  across  the 
river.  After  years  of  labor,  Carrick  was  elected  president 
of  Blount  College — since  known  as  the  University  of  Ten- 
nessee.    On  entering  upon  the  duties  of  the  office,  he  re- 


PRESBYTERIAN     MOVEMENTS     IN    THE    SOUTH.  221 

signed  the  pastorate  of  the  Lebanon  church,  but  retained 
that  of  the  one  in  Knoxville. 

The  Planters  of  the  Church  in  Tennessee. — The  min- 
isters, Hezekiah  Balch,  Robert  Henderson,  Samuel  Car- 
rick,  Gideon  Blackburn  and  other  worthies,  were  the  men 
who  led  the  way  in  planting  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
East  Tennessee.  "They  were  men  of  varied  gifts,  un- 
tiring zeal  and  entire  consecration  to  their  work,  and 
were  eminently  successful." 

Gideon  Blackburn  deserves  a  passing  notice.  He  was 
used  to  hardships,  which  taught  him  self-reliance  and 
fitted  him  as  no  other  training  could  for  the  sphere  of  use- 
fulness he  was  destined  to  fill  in  that  primitive  community. 
Though  dissimilar  in  his  ministerial  characteristics,  he 
was  a  fitting  co-laborer  with  Henderson.  In  preaching 
his  words,  his  tone  and  manner  were  solemn  and  im- 
pressive, as  though  he  was  overwhelmed  with  the  majesty 
of  his  subject.  Thus  he  carried  out  his  own  rule  of 
rhetoric,  which  he  once  gave  his  theological  pupils :  "Get 
your  head,  your  heart,  your  soul  full  of  your  subject,  then 
let  nature  have  her  own  way,  forgetting  all  rule." 
{Sprague's  Annals,  IV.,  p.  4^.) 

The  foundations  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  were  thus 
laid  in  that  new  region,  where  afterward  it  was  widely  ex- 
tended, as  from  time  to  time  came  other  ministers  to  aid 
in  the  cause. 

APeculiarType  of  Infidelity. — The  ministers  belonging 
to  the  Transylvania  Presbytery  in  Kentucky  were  an- 
tagonized by  a  more  complex  immorality  than  their  breth- 
ren in  East  Tennessee.  This  phase  of  evil  was  a  type  of 
infidelity  originating  among  the  French  revolutionists 
and  which  had  become  popular  with  these  settlers.  In 
addition  it  had  a  political  prestige  emanating  from  the 
National  capital,  for  "Jeffersonian  influence  was  as 
strong  west  as  east  of    the    mountains."     The    French 


2  22  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

names  given  to  the  towns  and  counties  in  that  region,  are 
significant  of  the  sentiment  prevailing  among  people. 

There  was  an  unusual  flow  of  immigrants  from  Eastern 
Virginia  into  that  fertile  region  of  which  Lexington  may- 
be deemed  a  central  point,  and  in  consequence,  the  popula- 
tion within  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery  soon  outstripped 
in  numbers  that  of  the  original  Abingdon,  from  which 
Transylvania  had  been  taken  (1786).  The  facilities  for 
reaching  these  distant  settlements  may  account  for  the 
rapid  increase  in  their  population.  Instead  of  threading 
their  way  from  East  Tennessee,  through  a  wilderness  of 
two  hundred  miles  or  more,  they  passed  over  the  AUe- 
ghanies  on  the  Braddock  road,  commencing  where  Cum- 
berland now  stands,  to  Fort  Redstone,  now  Brownsville, 
on  the  Monongahela,  there  embarking  on  capacious  Hat 
boats,  built  for  the  occasion,  they  floated  down  that  river 
and  the  Ohio  to  their  destination. 

The  Political  Clubs. — A  number  of  political  clubs  were 
formed  at  central  points,  such  as  Paris  and  Lexington. 
These  clubs  were  branches  of  the  one  formed  in  1793  in 
Philadelphia,  and  which  prided  itself  on  being  modeled 
after  the  fainous  Jacobin  Club  of  Paris.  (Four  Hundred 
Years,  etc.,  p.  38^.)  "These  clubs,"  says  an  authority, 
"were  politically  violent  and  dogmatic ;  morally  they  were 
corrupting,  and  in  respect  to  religion,  utterly  infidel." 
This  form  of  infidelity  was  vulgarly  blatant  in  its  oppo- 
sition to  Christianity  in  any  form  whatever;  the  legislature 
catching  the  spirit  dispensed  with  the  services  of  a  chap- 
lain. Through  this  influence  "an  apostate  Baptist  min- 
ister was  elected  governor  of  the  State,"  and  a  sceptic 
placed  at  the  head  of  Transylvania  Seminary — afterward 
university.  This  institution  was  founded  on  the  basis 
of  Christian  truth,  and  funds  were  contributed  for  that 
purpose.     The  effect  of  all  this  was  an  increase  of  vice  and 


PRESBYTERIAN    MOVEMENTS    IN    THE    SOUTH.  223 

dissipation;  it  is  stated  that  in  this  portion  of  Kentucky 
"a  decided  majority  of  the  population  were  reputed  to  be 
infidel." 

Some  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  labored  faithfully 
in  resisting  this  tide  of  evil,  but  the  outlook  in  respect  to 
vital  religion  was  gloomy  in  the  extreme,  when  suddenly 
came  the  Great  Revival — the  most  remarkable  in  the  an- 
nals of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  swept  over  a  region 
that  to  human  view  "was  proof  against  its  influence.  It 
effectually  arrested  the  universal  tide  of  scepticism  and  ir- 
religion."  This  religious  movement,  though  marred  by 
some  indiscretions  that  led  to  a  few  lamentable  effects, 
exerted  a  power  which  put  in  motion  influences  that  ma- 
terially neutralized  the  evils  of  the  politico-French  in- 
fidelity already  noted,  and  for  more  than  a  generation 
moulded  to  a  great  extent  the  moral  condition  of  society. 
{Se£  Chap,  XXIV,) 


XXIV. 
The  Great  Revival. 

An  efficient  instrument  of  Divine  Providence  in  pro- 
moting this  revival  was  the  Rev.  James  McGready.  He 
was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania;  a  student  of  theology  un- 
der Dr.  John  McMillan;  was  licensed  by  the  Redstone 
Presbytery,  and  afterward  removing  to  North  Carolina 
commenced  preaching  in  that  State  in  1788.  His  own 
spiritual  life  had  been  greatly  quickened  by  his  having  re- 
cently participated  in  a  revival  among  the  students  of 
Hampden-Sidney  College.  He  was  noted  for  his  de- 
nouncing sin  in  every  form,  and  in  consequence  he  became 
exceedingly  unpopular  with  those  classes  whose  vices  he 
rebuked.  The  spirit  of  practical  religion  that  he  had  just 
witnessed  in  the  revival  was  in  great  contrast  with  the 
conformity  to  the  world  and  its  allurements  that  he  en- 
countered in  the  community  in  which  were  the  two 
churches  to  whom  he  had  come  as  a  pastor.  Horse-rac- 
ing, with  its  attendant  gambling,  profanity  and  intemper- 
ance prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent,  and  yet  the  nominal 
members  of  the  churches  were  virtually  indifferent  as  to 
the  prevalence  of  these  and  other  vices. 

Mr.  McGready  labored  here  for  about  ten  years,  in  what 
proved  to  him  a  training  school.  His  pungent  and  con- 
tinuous denunciation  of  the  vices  common  in  the  com- 
munity, at  length,  roused  against  himself  personally  an 
intense  opposition  on  the  part  of  those  who  remained  un- 
converted. Every  effort  was  used  by  these  parties  to 
counteract  his  influence,  so  that  his  preaching  in  respect 


THE    GREAT     REVIVAL.  225 

to  them  became  an  instance  of  casting  pearls  before 
swine.  He  thought  it  better  to  seek  a  new  field  of  labor, 
and  he  removed  to  Kentucky,  at  the  invitation  of  a  num- 
ber of  his  church  members,  who  had  recently  migrated  to 
that  region.  McGready  was  then  about  thirty-three  years 
of  age  and  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  fiery  zeal. 

Religious  Conditions. — In  that  State  he  found  a  condi- 
tion of  society,  morally  speaking,  more  irreligious  than 
even  the  one  which  he  had  just  left,  because,  in  addition 
to  the  prevalent  vices  in  the  latter  community,  was  an  un- 
der-current of  scepticism,  that  neutralized  almost  every 
Christian  effort.  He  took  charge  of  three  congregations 
(Jan.  I,  1796),  that  were  located  in  most  unpromising 
neighborhoods.  Here  he  labored  with  varied  success  for 
four  years.  The  religious  and  moral  condition  of  that 
portion  of  Kentucky  was  exceptional,  when  compared 
with  any  other  section  of  the  Union;  the  lines  were 
strictly  drawn  between  a  politico-French  infidelity  and 
Christianity,  itself.  Davidson,  in  his  History  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky,  pp.  102,  107,  says: 
"The  French  mania  brought  about  a  leaning  to  French  in- 
fidelity of  which  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  was  idolized  as 
a  friend  of  the  West,  was  a  notorious  advocate.  *  *  * 
At  the  close  of  the  century,  a  decided  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple were  reported  to  be  infidel,  and  as  infidelity  is  the 
prolific  parent  of  vice,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  the 
whole  country  was  remarkable  for  vice  and  dissipation." 

This  condition  of  affairs  affected  many  of  the  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  churches,  and  in  consequence  Chris- 
tian duties  were  neglected  almost  everywhere.  Still  fur- 
ther, it  was  charged  by  a  writer  of  the  time — Crisman, 
historian  of  the  Cumberland  church — that  some  of  "the 
ministry  aimed  at  little  else  than  to  enlighten  the  un- 
derstanding. *  *  *  They  spoke  but  little  of  indi- 
vidual accountability    or    spiritual   regeneration,  but  of 


2  26  A    HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

the  elect,  the  predestined,  the  preordained.  *  *  * 
Members  were  received  into  the  churches,  without  pro- 
fessing a  change  of  heart,  or  being  aware  of  its  neces- 
sity. *  *  *  A  stiff  technical  theology  or  a  dry  specu- 
lative orthodoxy  thus  left  the  heart  and  conscience  un- 
moved." 

At  this  crisis,  when  the  few  earnest  Christian  men  and 
women  were  in  despair  came  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  It  came  with  such  power  that  the  opposition  for 
the  time  was  appalled  and  swept  away.  We  cannot  go  into 
detail  of  all  the  circumstances  attending  this  marvelous 
religious  movement,  by  means  of  which  the  moral  char- 
acter of  the  population  of  an  extensive  territory,  not  only 
in  Kentucky  but  in  portions  of  the  neighboring  States,  was 
modified  or  changed,  and  gospel  truth  received  an  im- 
pulse, which  from  that  day  to  this  has  blest  the  people  of 
that  entire  region.     {Gillett  II.,  pp.  158-200.) 

After  the  work  commenced  (July,  1799),  its  influence 
spread  rapidly  throughout  the  region,  and  a  few  other 
Presbyterian  ministers,  who  were  in  earnest  sympathy 
with  the  revival  entered  into  the  cause  with  great  zeal. 
Prominent  among  these  were  Revs.  John  Rankin,  William 
McGee,  a  Presbyterian,  and  his  brother,  a  Methodist, 
and  William  Hodge.  The  latter  and  William  McGee 
were  converted  under  Mr.  McGready's  preaching  when 
he  was  in  North  Carolina. 

Characteristics  of  the  Revival. — There  were  peculiar 
characteristics  of  this  religious  awakening  that  are  well 
authenticated,  and  to  explain  which  is  as  difficult  to  ac- 
count for  as  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  if  the  inspired  word  had  not  made  known 
the  power  that  moved  the  souls  of  men  on  that  occasion, 
while  under  the  preaching  of  the  Apostle  Peter.  Here  in 
these  modern  days  were  bold  and  daring  sinners,  scofifers 
and  blasphemers,  some  of  whom  had  even  come  intending 


THE     GREAT     REVIVAL.  22  7 

to  interrupt  thest .  ^^ligious  services,  but  instead  were  over- 
come and  wept  bitterly,  bewailing  their  sins.  The  emo- 
tions of  the  soul  were  so  intense  that  they  affected  the 
whole  physical  system.  "Many  were  so  struck  with  deep 
heart-piercing  convictions  that  their  bodily  strength  was 
quite  overcome  so  that  they  fell  to  the  ground  and  could 
not  refrain  from  bitter  groans  and  outcries  for  mercy." 
These  manifestations  were  not  confined  to  any  special 
class,  but  all,  old  and  young,  black  and  white,  were  af- 
fected, some  more,  some  less.  Numbers  of  professed 
Christians,  after  a  searching  examination  of  their  former 
hopes,  were  awakened  to  a  new  and  heartfelt  religious 
life,  and  thus  the  work  went  on  with  increasing  power  for 
a  number  of  years. 

Injurious  Divisions. — Unfortunately  divisions  arose, 
doctrines  were  preached  that  were  deemed  unscriptural  by 
many  Presbyterian  ministers  and  it  became  evident  to  the 
more  judicious  that  such  errors,  if  permitted  to  remain 
unimpeached,  would  retard  the  progress  of  the  revival. 
Extravagancies,  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  these  errors, 
had  already  produced  evils  in  some  of  the  churches.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  to-day  the  ministers  who  strove  to 
avoid  these  extremes  were  right  in  their  opposition,  as 
the  influence  of  such  unscriptural  and  injudicious  meas- 
ures afterward  proved.  Although  they  did  not  sanction 
all  the  methods  used,  nor  condemn  them  absolutely,  yet 
they  held  that  whatever  permanent  good  that  was  done 
was  through  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  truth  alone.  They 
assumed  that  a  genuine  "work  of  God"  would  bear  the 
test  of  His  word.  Prominent  among  these  ministers  were 
John  Lyle,  Thomas  B.  Craighead,  Robert  Stuart,  J.  P. 
Campbell  and  David  Rice,  who  because  of  his  age  and  dis- 
position was  characterized  as  "Father  Rice."  The  ad- 
vocates of  the  extreme  measures  most  unjustly  stigmatized 
these  men  as  Anti-Revivalists. 


2.28  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Influence  of  the  Revival  Spread. — The  news  of  these 
remarkable  religious  exercises  spread  far  and  wide,  and 
great  multitudes,  impressed  by  an  indefinable  feeling  on 
the  subject,  came  from  long  distances  to  attend  these 
services.  Congregations  one  after  another  were  brought 
under  the  same  influence,  till  the  whole  region  was 
reached,  extending  in  every  direction  for  at  least  a  hun- 
dred miles.  The  indefatigable  McGready  visited  and 
preached  with  tremendous  power  in  places  more  than  that 
distance  from  his  home.  In  many  instances  these  con- 
verts from  classes  of  hardened  sinners  in  expressing  their 
thoughts  astonished  even  the  preachers  themselves.  Says 
Mr,  McGready :  "The  good  language,  the  good  sense  the 
clear  ideas  and  the  rational  scriptural  light  in  which  they 
spoke  amazed  me.  They  spoke  upon  the  subjects  beyond 
what  I  could  have  done.' 

To  instruct  these  multitudes  the  Presbyterian  ministers 
labored  incessantly.  The  meeting-houses  were  too  small 
and  during  the  summer  the  people  thronged  the  groves  in 
many  thousands.  There  were  often  seen  at  the  same  time 
but  at  different  places  in  the  woods  great  congregations 
— in  one  instance  seven — listening  to  sermons,  but  all  im- 
pressed by  a  similar  intense  conviction  of  sin.  Great  num- 
bers of  the  most  careless  and  God-defying  sinners  ex- 
perienced a  change  of  heart  and  who  manifested  their 
sincerity  afterward  by  living  consistent  Christian  lives. 

Camp  Meetings. — The  immense  crowds  that  attended 
these  services  and  the  lack  of  buildings  of  sufficient  size 
to  contain  them  afterward  led  to  holding  in  the  summer 
months  the  larger  assemblies  in  the  groves.  From  the 
latter  custom  originated  camp  meetings.  Regular  en- 
campments were  formed  at  first  by  having  canvas  tents, 
but  these  in  turn  gave  way  to  light  structures  made  of 
wood,  because  more  permanent,  since  the  same  encamp- 
ment was  oftentimes  used  from  year  to  year.    Some  cen- 


THE     GREAT     REVIVAL.  229 

tral  position  was  chosen  that  furnished  an  abundance  of 
pure  vi^ater  and  a  suitable  forest.  In  time  the  custom  of 
having  such  encampments  was  so  extended  throughout 
Kentucky  and  the  neighboring  States  that  a  systematized 
form  of  evangehcal  work  was  inaugurated  for  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  people  at  large  during  the  summer 
months,  when  the  groves  could  be  thus  utilized.  This 
mode  of  holding  large  assemblies  for  evangelical  work 
was  suited  to  the  conditions  of  the  people,  and  therefore 
they  became  very  popular  and  equally  as  useful  as  a  means 
of  preaching  the  word. 

Uneducated  Men  Licensed  to  Preach. — These  continu- 
ous and  extensive  revivals  called  for  an  unusual  number 
of  active  ministerial  workers.  The  Cumberland  Presby- 
tery of  Kentucky  endeavored  to  supply  such  by  licensing 
men  to  preach  who  had  not  the  usual  qualifications  re- 
quired in  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  to  their  classical  and 
theological  learning.  This  proceeding  ran  counter  to  the 
sentiment  and  traditions  of  its  intelligent  church  members. 
About  sixty  years  (1748)  before  the  time  of  which  we 
write  an  effort  was  made  under  almost  similar  conditions 
to  lower  the  standard  of  the  education  of  the  ministry. 
That  effort  signally  failed  (see  p.  166).  In  connection 
with  other  irregularities  a  number  of  uneducated  but  zeal- 
ous men  were  thus  licensed  to  preach.  To  this  proceeding 
the  Synod  of  Kentucky  refused  to  give  its  sanction,  and 
in  the  course  of  several  years  many  attempts  were  made 
to  reconcile  the  parties  at  variance,  and  also  appeals  were 
made  to  the  General  Assembly.  The  sum  of  the  latter's 
final  action  was  to  sustain  the  course  of  the  synod  "as 
firm  and  temperate"  in  not  licensing  uneducated  men  to 
preach,  but  gave  permission  for  the  presbytery  to  "sanc- 
tion catechists  and  exhorters."  A  number  of  these  men 
were  of  exceptional  ability,  but  over  whom  "the  pres- 
bytery was  to  keep  careful  watch  and  supervision." 


230  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

— Cumberland  Presbyterians. — This  decision  failed  to  sat- 
isfy a  number  of  the  members  of  the  presbytery,  and  the 
outcome  was  far-reaching  in  its  influence,  no  less  than 
the  founding  of  the  Cumberland  branch  of  American  Pres- 
byterianism.  There  were  other  impediments,  such  as  doc- 
trinal differences  that  precluded  a  perfect  adjustment  of 
these  controversies  and  the  reconciliation  of  the  parties 
at  variance,  since  some  of  the  doctrines  preached  contra- 
vened the  Confession  of  Faith,  while  the  licensing  of  un- 
educated men  to  preach  was  looked  upon  as  inexpedient 
and  fraught  with  future  injury  to  the  church. 

Unavailing  efforts  were  made  during  a  number  of  years 
to  reconcile  these  differences,  but  in  1814  the  Cumberland 
Presbytery  took  in  hand  the  Westminster  Confession, 
which  was  "modeled,  expunged  and  added  to."  In  this 
proceeding  they  apparently  "aimed  to  steer  a  middle 
course  between  Arminianism  and  the  confession,  reject- 
ing the  articles  charged  with  teaching  the  doctrine  of  fa- 
tality.'^ The  progress  of  the  denomination  was  rapid,  its 
congregations  increased  in  number  to  sixty;  three  preiby- 
teries  were  formed  and  these  constituted  a  synod.  Under 
these  conditions  the  General  Assembly  in  1825  defined 
its  position  as  to  the  latter  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  "other 
denominations,  not  connected  with  our  body."  In  a  Chris- 
tian spirit  they  each  agreed  to  follow  their  own  way  in 
their  respective  spheres  of  usefulness. 

The  desire  to  promote  education  of  a  high  order  led  in 
1827  to  the  founding  by  the  denomination  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  College  at  Princeton,  Kentucky,  and  to 
which  was  also  attached  a  theological  department.  If  we 
may  judge  from  the  efforts  made  to-day  to  supply  its 
churches  with  a  thoroughly  educated  ministry,  we  would 
infer  that  the  present  members  think  that  these  good  men 
on  the  point  then  at  issue  may  possibly  have  made  a  mis- 
take in  respect  to  an  educated  ministry.     The  rule  was 


THE     GREAT     REVIVAL.  :»3T 

ag'ain  sustained  by  the  General  Assembly.,  as  the  secession 
of  a  portion  of  a  single  presbytery  did  not  infringe  the 
principle  involved.  The  scholarship  of  the  Presbyterian 
ministry  has  always  kept  pace  with  every  branch  of  ad- 
vanced secular  and  theological  education,  and  to-day  the 
former  study  science  much  more  than  scientists  study 
theology. 

Another  Great  Revival. — In  this  connection  we  give  a 
brief  account  of  a  revival  which  commenced  in  the  autumn 
of  1802,  under  the  miinistrations  of  Rev.  Elisha  Macurdy 
in  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania.  Macurdy  was 
a  farmer  in  Ligonier  valley,  Westmoreland  County. 
In  his  twenty-eighth  year  he  heard  a  sermon  by  Rev. 
James  Hughes,  who  was  on  a  missionary  tour  among  the 
scattered  Presbyterian  churches  in  that  region  (1792). 
His  attention  was  arrested  by  the  doctrines  expressed  and 
warnings  given  by  the  preacher,  who  based  them  upon  the 
word  of  God.  Macurdy  bought  a  Bible  and  began  to  ex- 
amine its  contents;  the  result  was  he  professed  himself  a 
Christian,  though  afterward  he  experienced  clearer  views 
of  his  acceptance  with  the  Saviour.  He  determined  to 
devote  his  energies  to  preaching  the  gospel  and,  selling  his 
farm  to  defray  the  expenses,  he  entered  upon  a  course  of 
study  in  the  Canonsburg  Academy.  His  study  of  theol- 
ogy was  under  the  direction  and  instruction  of  Dr.  Mc- 
Millan. 

He  finished  his  course  of  study  in  1798  and  was  li- 
censed by  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio.  Immediately  he  began 
work  and  as  a  missionary  preached  with  great  zeal  and 
acceptance  in  the  vacant  churches  and  destitute  settle- 
ments in  that  region,  but  ere  long  he  became  the  pastor 
of  two  churches — known  respectively  as  Cross  Roads  and 
Three  Springs.  Here  he  labored  with  remarkable  success 
for  thirty-five  years. 

The  Counterpart. — This  revival  in  certain  characteris- 


232  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

tics  was  almost  a  counterpart  of  the  one  commencing  in 
Kentucky  two  years  before  (1800)  under  the  ministry  of 
James  McGready.  The  similarity  consisted  in  the  effects 
produced  upon  those  who  were  convicted  of  sin,  such  as 
the  physical  system  being  overpowered  by  the  emotions  of 
the  soul  when  under  a  pungent  sense  of  guilt  before  God. 
But  all  were  not  thus  affected,  as  the  manifestations  were 
varied  in  kind  and  in  intensity ;  derangements  of  the  nerv- 
ous system  being  more  frequent  than  the  loss  of  physical 
strength.  As  for  the  length  of  time  in  which  such  condi- 
tions lasted,  some  were  for  only  a  few  minutes,  others  for 
hours  and  even  days.  The  mental  powers  of  those  thus 
exercised  appeared  to  be  intensely  active  in  dwelling  upon 
religious  realities  and  things  of  eternity.  Bold  and  hard- 
ened sinners  were  awakened  and  their  mental  agony  was 
so  great  that  often  the  body  of  the  convicted  became  seem- 
ingly paralyzed  and  sank  down  helplessly.  In  one  in- 
stance so  great  was  the  intensity  of  feeling  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  congregation  did  not  disperse  at  the  usual  time 
in  the  evening,  but  remained  in  prayer  and  exhortation  all 
night  long  and  even  till  near  noon  the  following  day. 
There  were  scenes  similar  to  those  witnessed  about  the 
same  time  in  the  revivals  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  in 
both  the  Carolinas. 

The  Revival  Spreads. — Meetings  continued  to  be  held 
at  central  points,  as  at  Mr.  Macurdy's  churches  and  others 
in  the  vicinity.  In  all  these  were  manifested,  more  or  less, 
similar  spiritual  effects  in  the  conviction  of  sin  and  in  the 
powerful  influence  over  the  physical  system.  The  revival 
spread  to  many  other  churches  in  the  country  round  about, 
and  finally  its  influence  extended  to  the  west  into  Ohio. 

A  calm  but  interested  stranger — Rev.  Joseph  Badger — 
who  happened  on  one  occasion  to  be  present,  in  writing 
of  those  who  fell  says:  "They  very  nearly  resembled 
persons  who  had  just  expired  from  a  state  of  full  strength. 


THE     GREAT     REVIVAL.  233 

For  d.  considerable  time  pulsation  could  not  be  perceived. 
Their  limbs  were  wholly  unstrung,  and  respiration  was 
scarcely  perceptible;  yet  they  retained  their  reason  and 
knew  what  was  said  within  their  hearing."  {Gillett,  I., 
P'  543-)  The  preaching  was  "Calvinistic  in  sentiment, 
serious,  earnest  and  pathetic.  *  *  *  The  people  were 
carefully  instructed  that  there  was  no  religion  in  the  mere 
falling  or  in  the  bodily  exercises,  and  against  this  idea 
they  were  repeatedly  put  on  their  guard." 

The  Contrast. — It  may  be  said  in  contrast  that  when  the 
revival  burst  forth  in  Kentucky  it  had  to  contend  with  the 
united  force  of  a  politic o-iniidelity  and  an  almost  univer- 
sal scepticism,  but  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  while  tticre 
were  many  unconverted  among  the  people,  there  was  none 
of  that  blatant  infidelity  that  prevailed  in  the  former  State, 
as  Christianity  had  so  far  indirectly  moulded  the  masj  of 
the  people  that  it  was  held  in  respect  by  the  unconverted 
in  the  community. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  James  McGready,  the  leader 
in  the  revival  in  Kentucky,  and  also  that  Elisha  Macurdy, 
who  bore  a  similar  relation  to  that  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, were  both  educated  in  the  Canonsburg  Academy, 
and  in  their  theological  training  were  under  the  direction 
and  instruction  of  Dr.  John  McMillan. 

In  1805  Mr.  Marquis  and  Mr.  Macurdy  were  commis- 
sioners from  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio  to  the  General  As- 
sembly of  that  year,  which  met  in  Philadelphia.  There 
they  learned  that  certain  incidents  in  this  revival  were  se- 
verely criticised  by  "some  of  the  ministers  in  the  region 
of  Philadelphia,  especially  those  who  retained  the  tradi- 
tions and  prejudices  of  the  Old  Side."  The  latter  good 
men  appeared  to  ignore  that  the  Westminster  Confession 
says  the  Holy  Spirit  "worketh  when  and  where  and  how 
He  pleaseth." 

Revivals  in  New  England. — It  is  proper  to  note  inci- 
17 


234  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

dentally  that  while  these  revivals  were  in  progress  in  Ken- 
tucky and  Western  Pennsylvania  there  were  also  remark- 
able outpourings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  New  England,  es- 
pecially in  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts.  These  re- 
vivals commenced  in  Maine  and  continued  for  a  number 
of  years  with  more  or  less  power  to  spread  from  congre- 
gation to  congregation,  and  thus  in  one  sense  they  were 
local,  though  they  extended  finally  throughout  that  sec- 
lion  of  the  Union,  and  far  into  the  first  quarter  of  the 
present  century.  In  writing  of  these  scenes  the  celebrated 
Edward  D.  Griffin,  then  a  pastor  in  Hartford,  Conn,  says : 
"I  could  number  fifty  or  sixty  continuous  congregations 
laid  down  in  one  field  of  divine  wonders  and  as  many  more 
in  different  parts  of  New  England."  In  1802  a  revival 
remarkable  for  its  power  occurred  in  Yale  College. 


XXV. 

The  Way  Prepared  for  the  Plan  of  Union. 

We  have  seen  in  the  early  colonial  times  in  New  Eng- 
land that  the  Congregationalists  and  the  Presbyterians 
cooperated  in  their  religious  work,  and  while  the  form 
of  church  government  was  virtually  reckoned  a  matter  of 
expediency,  uniformity  in  respect  to  Christian  doctrine 
was  deemed  essential  in  order  to  the  perfect  harmony  of 
the  two  denominations.  We  have  already  noted  that  oven 
before,  but  especially  soon  after,  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tion large  migrations  composed  mostly  of  Presbyterians 
crossed  the  Alleghanies  into  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  head- 
streams  of  the  Ohio,  and  also  that  a  little  later  during  the 
same  period  similar  migrations  crossed  the  same  moun- 
tains further  south  into  the  rich  and  beautiful  valleys  of 
the  head-streams  of  the  Tennessee. 

The  middle  and  lower  portions  of  the  valleys  of  the 
Hudson  and  the  Mohawk  had  been  partially  octupied  by 
settlers  nearly  a  century  before  the  time  of  which  we  write 
and  who  for  the  most  part  belonged  to  the  Church  of  Hol- 
land. Afterward  came  in  Presbyterians,  whose  doctrinal 
creed  harmonized  with  that  of  the  latter  church,  while 
both  recognized  the  parity  of  the  ministry  and  a  form  of 
church  government  in  which  the  church  members  were 
represented  by  laymen.  A  large  emigration  of  Protest- 
ants— Lutherans — some  five  thousand,  it  is  said,  came 
from  the  Palatinate  in  Germany  and  settled  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mohawk  (1707).  They  were  induced  to  come  by 
grants  of  land  given  by  the  government  of  Queen  Anne, 


236  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

and  on  the  condition  they  would  setde  on  the  frontiers  of 
the  colony.  Some  time  afterward  came  an  immigration  of 
Scotch  Presbyterians,  who  took  up  lands  and  made  their 
homes  principally  in  the  region  north  of  Albany,  and 
whose  number  was  increased  from  time  to  time  by  others 
from  their  native  land.  In  addition,  in  1740  came  to  the 
same  colony  an  entire  congregation  of  Presbyterians  under 
the  direction  and  pastoral  care  of  their  minister,  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Dunlop.  They  migrated  from  Londonderry,  New 
Hampshire,  and  settled  in  Cherry  Valley;  to  the  former 
place  they  had  previously  come  from  Scotland  and  the 
north  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Dunlop  afterward  (1763)  became  a 
member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Dutchess  County.  Thus  was 
prepared  the  way  for  the  promotion  of  evangelical  religion 
m  that  entire  region. 

Lines  of  Migration. — Owing  to  climatic  reasons,  people 
in  the  United  States,  when  they  migrate  from  one  portion 
of  their  country  to  another,  do  so  mostly  on  or  near  the 
same  parallels  of  latitude  on  which  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  live.  Thus  while  the  migrations  across  the 
mountains  just  mentioned  were  going  on,  others  on  the 
same  principle  were  in  progress  further  north,  for  New 
Englanders,  chiefly  from  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts, 
were  pouring  into  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Mo- 
hawk and  the  lake  region  of  Central  New  York.  These 
streams  of  people  were  mostly  Congregationalists,  and 
they  located  as  circumstances  dictated  side  by  side  with 
the  Dutch  and  the  Presbyterians,  and  generally  blended 
with  the  latter  in  their  church  relations  and  Christian  fel- 
lowship, since  both  were  agreed  as  to  the  essential  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel.  Meanwhile  to  aid  in  supplying  the  re- 
ligious wants  of  the  people  in  these  numerous  settlements 
ministers  as  missionaries  came  from  New  England,  who 
often  preached  to  congregations  composed  of  members 
of  the  three  denominations  mentioned. 


THE    WAY    PREPARED    FOR    THE    PLAN    OF    UNION.     237 

Losses  and  Regains. — The  churches  of  this  entire  re- 
gion had  unwonted  trials  and  disasters  during  the  French 
and  Indian  War  (1753-1763),  and  afterward  during  the 
Revolutionary  period.  They  were  on  or  near  the  routes 
of  the  several  invasions  first  by  Indians  from  Canada  and 
afterward  by  the  British  under  Burgoyne.  After  the  Rev- 
olution those  who  had  been  driven  away  returned  to  their 
desolated  homes,  and  in  time  began  to  rebuild  their 
churches.  As  soon  as  peace  was  assured  the  population  in 
this  fertile  region  began  to  increase  rapidly  and  the 
churches  also  in  a  similar  proportion,  but  even  faster  than 
pastors  could  be  obtained  to  supply  them.  Such  was  the 
condition  of  the  religious  affairs  of  these  settlements  some 
years  before  and  after  the  year  1800. 

Interest  in  Missions. — It  is  remarkable  that  about  this 
time  special  attention  was  directed  almost  simultaneously 
to  missionary  work  amid  the  comparatively  frontier  settle- 
ments, and  among  the  Indians  who  were  yet  living  along 
the  western  borders  of  the  States.  This  missionary  spirit 
seemed  to  pervade  the  entire  country,  and  the  different 
denominations — Reformed  Dutch,  the  Baptists,  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Associate  Re- 
formed. The  first  to  enter  the  field  was  the  Missionary 
Society  of  New  York,  Nov.  i,  1796;  soon  after  was  formed 
the  Northern  Missionary  Society,  designed  to  operate 
specially  in  the  northern  and  western  portion  of  the  State. 
The  following  year  (1797)  the  General  Association  of 
Connecticut  formed  itself,  as  it  were,  into  an  ex-oKcio 
missionary  society.  Then  in  1798  the  Massachusetts  so- 
ciety was  formed;  and  soon  after  another,  the  Berkshire 
Columbian,  was  organized  in  the  western  part  of  the  State. 
In  Pittsburg  (October,  1802)  was  organized  the  Western 
Missionary  Society  by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg.  Such  were 
the  comparatively  feeble  beginnings  of  domestic  missions 
for  those  destitute  of  gospel  privileges  in  our  own  land, 


238         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  same  influence  expanded  and  ere  long  took  in  the  for- 
eign field.  This  liberal  Christian  spirit  manifested  itself 
in  the  increased  intercourse  between  the  different  denom- 
inations and  their  uniting  with  one  another  for  the  greater 
efficiency  in  the  work.  The  custom  was  introduced  of 
interchanging  ministerial  services,  as  well  as  that  of  fra- 
ternal letters  passing  back  and  forth  between  their  re- 
spective church  judicatures.  The  General  Assembly  en- 
tered heartily  into  the  "plan  for  correspondence  and  inter- 
course." At  this  time  a  vast  field  was  opened  to  mis- 
sionary work,  one  which  extended  from  Middle  New  York 
across  Pennsylvania  and  into  Eastern  Ohio,  where  multi- 
tudes of  settlers  were  coming  in  from  New  England.  They 
found  homes  for  the  most  part  on  the  territory  known  as 
the  Western  Reserve,  which  territory  then  belonged  to 
Connecticut. 

Plan  of  Union  Suggested. — When  Dr.  John  Blair  Smith 
was  president  of  Union  College,  a  young  Congregational 
minister — Eliphalet  Nott — who  had  been  sent  by  the  As- 
sociation of  Connecticut  as  a  missionary  to  the  "settle- 
ments" in  New  York  State,  on  his  journey  stopped  at 
Schenectady  and  by  invitation  spent  a  night  with  the 
president  ( 1795  V  They  discoursed  on  the  situation  of  the 
churches  in  tJ2^  region  round  about,  and  also  on  the  sev- 
eral points  of  doctrine  that  were  held  in  common  by  the 
Congregationalists  and  the  Presbyterians — the  form  of 
church  government  being  held  by  both  parties  as  non- 
essential. In  the  course  of  the  conversation  President 
Smith,  after  describing  the  religious  condition  of  the  sev- 
eral settlements,  in  thus  having  two  distinct  ecclesiastical 
organizations  when  both  were  orthodox  in  their  views, 
asked :  "Would  it  not  be  better  for  the  entire  church  that 
these  two  divisions  should  make  mutual  concessions  and 
thus  effect  a  common  organization  on  an  accommodation 
plan,  with  a  view  to  meet  the  conditions  of  communities 


THE    WAY    PREPARED     FOR    THE    PLAN     OF     UNION.     239 

SO  situated?"  {Gillett,  I.,  p.  sp6.)  This  young  and  elo- 
quent minister  was  won  over  to  the  views  of  President 
Smith,  and  being  also  encouraged  by  a  number  of  Con- 
gregationahsts  and  Presbyterians  he  labored  earnestly 
in  the  cause  and  the  result  was  that  numerous  churches  in 
that  portion  of  the  State  were  formed  or  strengthened  in 
their  work  by  their  union  with  one  another  on  this  ac- 
commodation plan.  Mr.  Nott  was  induced  by  President 
Smith  to  accept  the  pastorate  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
in  Albany  (1798),  to  which  he  had  been  invited;  six  years 
later  he  became  president  of  Union  College — a  position  of 
great  influence,  and  which  he  filled  admirably, 

Presbyterial  Form  Preferred. — It  appears  that  at  this 
time  the  sympathy  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  Con- 
necticut was  in  favor  of  a  virtual  presbyterial  form  of 
church  government  (as  they  stood  on  "the  semi-Presbyte- 
rian Saybrook  platform").  The  following  statement  in 
1799  of  the  views  and  church  polity  of  the  Hartford  Asso- 
ciation shows  that  the  constitution  of  its  churches  "h  not 
Congregational,  but  contains  the  essentials  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  of  Scotland  or  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  America."  This  is  further  illustrated  by  the 
statement  that  the  "decisive  power  of  ecclesiastical  coun- 
cils and  consociation  consisting  of  ministers  and  messen- 
gers or  a  lay  representation  from  the  churches,  is  pos- 
sessed of  substantially  the  same  authority  as  presbytery." 
"As  the  eighteenth  century  drew  toward  a  close,  Connec- 
ticut's sympathies  went  out  increasingly  toward  fellowship 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Middle  States.  Mas- 
sachusetts, on  the  other  hand,  came  to  represent  an  in- 
creasingly independent  type  of  Congregationalism." 
(Church  Hist.  Series,  Vol.  III.,  p.  2og — Walker.')  This 
polity  of  Connecticut  is  radically  different  from  that  put 
forth  as  the  principles  on  which  the  original  Congrega^ 
tional  Church  in  Massachusetts  was  founded.  {See  p.  71.) 


240  A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

The  Plan  Proposed. — The  General  Association  of  Con* 
necticut  proposed  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1801  ''A 
plan  of  union,"  which  proposal  was  accepted  by  the  latter 
body.  In  brief,  the  following  regulations  were  agreed 
upon :  A  Presbyterian  minister  might  be  the  pastor  of  a 
Congregational  church  and  still  continue  his  relations  to 
his  presbytery;  and  a  Congregational  minister  might  be 
the  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church  and  still  remain  a 
member  of  his  association.  In  case  of  trial  the  Presby- 
terian might  appeal  to  his  presbytery,  or  to  a  mutual  coun- 
cil equally  composed  of  Presbyterians  and  Congregation- 
alists.  In  the  case  of  the  Congregationalist  he  might  ap- 
peal to  a  mutual  council  or  to  presbytery;  in  the  latter 
a  delegate  of  the  church  had  the  right  to  sit  and  act  as  a 
ruling  elder.  In  a  Congregationalist  church  the  male 
communicants  constitute  the  session;  in  a  Presbyterian 
the  session  or  eldership  is  chosen  by  the  church  members 
as  their  representatives. 

The  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  these  peculiar  circum- 
stances was  deemed  paramount  to  technical  or  strictly  ec- 
clesiastical forms.  Apparently  the  plan  was  designed  to 
be  temporary,  since  in  respect  to  the  church  polity  of  each 
denomination  it  was  a  divergence  and  used  only  as  an 
expedient.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  presbyteries  were 
not  overtured  on  this  occasion  by  the  assembly  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  book  and  the  usual  custom ;  and  that  the 
Association  of  Connecticut  in  accordance  with  its  consti- 
tution had  no  legislative  authority  in  the  premises. 

IVhy  the  Churches  Prospered. — The  progress  of  the 
churches  was  much  stimulated  by  the  adoption  of  the 
Plan  of  Union,  which  enjoined  "mutual  forbearance  and 
accommodation,"  as  it  enabled  the  ministry  to  be  better 
utilized ;  when  it  required  only  one  to  supply  the  religious 
wants  of  the  town  or  neighborhood,  instead  of  two  as  here- 
tofore, one  was  thus  freed  to  preach  elsewhere.     This 


THE    WAY    PREPARED    FOR    THE    PLAN    OF    UNION.     24I 

spirit  of  union  pervaded  the  Christian  community  and  the 
Middle  Association — Congregational — was  invited  to  be- 
come a  constituent  branch  of  the  Synod  of  Albany,  if  the 
approval  of  the  General  Assembly  could  be  obtained.  This 
was  secured  with  the  understanding  that  the  churches 
of  the  association  could  continue  in  their  own  mode  of 
.government,  unless  they  would  voluntarily  adopt  the  Pres- 
byterian form.  The  assembly  (1808)  gave  its  sanction  to 
this  arrangement.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  associanon 
and  that  of  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva  were  virtually  within 
the  same  limits.  The  three  presbyteries  of  Albany,  Colum- 
bia and  Oneida  were  constituted  by  the  Synod  of  Albany 
.(1803),  afterward  the  Presbytery  of  Oneida  was  divided, 
and  from  it  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva  was  set  off,  and 
from  the  latter  was  afterward  formed  the  Presbytery  of 
Onondaga. 

Reasons  for  Material  Prosperity. — The  material  prog- 
ress of  the  entire  State  of  New  York,  up  the  Hudson  and 
the  Mohawk  and  through  the  lake  region  to  Lake  Erie, 
was  very  rapid,  owing  in  part  to  the  immense  migration 
from  New  England,  especially  from  Connecticut  and  Mas- 
sachusetts. These  immigrants  brought  with  them  their 
love  for  the  church  and  the  school-house,  and  in  that  re- 
spect they  had  the  full  sympathy  of  those  already  in  the 
field.  Villages  were  increasing  in  number,  while  the  fer- 
tile lands  were  rapidly  brought  under  cultivation,  and  soon 
the  wheat  fields  of  the  Genesee  valley  became  famous. 
Further  on  the  opening  of  the  Erie  canal  (1825),  connect- 
ing the  lakes  with  the  Atlantic  through  the  Hudson,  gave 
a  new  impulse  to  this  migration  from  the  East,  while  the 
increase  in  the  native  population  was  in  an  equal  ratio. 

Results  of  Christian  Effort. — The  several  missionary 
societies  were  active  in  sending  supplies  of  minister?  to 
meet  the  the  religious  wants  of  the  settlements  of  the 
whites,  and  also  to  the  Indians  yet  remaining  in  the  State. 


2  42  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

As  a  result  of  these  efforts  as  reported  to  the  General  As- 
sembly of  1810,  the  number  of  ministers  in  the  western 
portion  of  the  State  had  in  eleven  years  increased  from  two 
to  nearly  fifty.  The  local  societies  were  active  in  the  cause, 
but  mainly  through  the  distribution  of  religious  tracts 
and  books.  These  operations  required  funds  and  the  whole 
church  was  more  than  usually  stimulated  to  provide  the 
means  to  support  missionaries  and  other  general  ex- 
penses. 

Effects  of  the  Great  Revival. — The  influence  of  the  great 
revival  in  Kentucky  had  extended  north  of  the  Ohio  river 
and,  as  already  noted,  into  Western  Pennsylvania  and 
thence  to  Western  and  Middle  New  York.  Magazines 
were  established  for  the  purpose  of  diffusing  religious  in- 
formation, while  the  assembly  and  the  Connecticut  Asso- 
ciation went  hand  in  hand  i-n  promoting  the  good  work. 
At  this  period  and  for  a  number  of  years  there  was  a 
general  progress  of  religion  in  the  form  of  revivals  in 
almost  every  presbytery  in  some  of  the  States,  in  North 
and  also  in  South  Carolina,  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  New 
Jersey  and  especially  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  The  out- 
pourings of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  remarkable,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  the  gospel  was  often  manifest  in  the  change  pro- 
duced in  the  morals  of  society  in  general  and  in  the  new 
life  that  inspired  the  churches. 

Stajidiiig  Comniiffees. — In  1802  the  assembly  appointed 
a  "Standing  Committee  of  Missions."  It  consisted  of 
seven  members,  four  ministers  and  three  laymen ;  its  duty 
w^as  to  take  cognizance  of  the  progress  of  missionary  work 
during  the  year  and  report  the  same  to  the  assembly.  This 
committee  was  afterward  increased  to  twelve;  the  five 
additional  members  w^ere  appointed  from  Philadelphia 
and  vicinity  in  order  for  the  convenience  of  a  quorum 
being  more  easily  convened.  At  that  time  the  impression 
was  abroad  that  as  the  Presbyterian  Assembly  had  a  char- 


THE    WAY     PREPARED     FOR    THE    PLAN     OF    UNION.     243 

ter  as  to  its  temporalities  from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
it  could  not  legally  meet  and  transact  business  in  any  other 
State. 

The  subject  of  ministerial  education  was  not  in  the 
meantime  overlooked,  but  greatly  promoted  by  the  con- 
tributions of  the  church  members.  Each  synod  was  at  lib- 
erty to  designate  a  professor  of  theology,  to  whom  stu- 
dents could  resort  for  instruction ;  this  measure  was  the 
harbinger  of  regularly  constituted  theological  seminaries. 

The  Sad  Interruption. — At  this  period  the  religious 
progress  of  the  entire  country  was  sadly  interrupted.  The 
Napoleon  wars  in  Europe  brought  about  misunderstand- 
ings that  were  followed  by  numerous  aggressions  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  American  people  suffered  greatly, 
especially  in  their  trade  upon  the  ocean  and  in  the  viola- 
tion of  the  rights  of  their  seamen,  so  that  Congress  thought 
itself  justified  in  declaring  war  against  Great  Britain 
(June  18,  1812).  {Four  Hundred  Years,  etc.,  pp.  62^- 
628.)  The  war  itself  lasted  nearly  three  years,  but  in- 
cluding the  public  turmoil  before  and  after  it,  the  period 
was  about  five,  during  which  a  demoralizing  moral  influ- 
ence permeated  the  whole  land  and  very  much  retarded  the 
legitimate  work  of  all  the  churches. 

During  the  period  of  religious  disaster  caused  by  the 
war  and  its  concomitant  evils  the  assembly  appointed  each 
successive  year  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  Amid  the 
general  moral  gloom  that  rested  upon  the  churches,  there 
were  isolated  cases  of  revivals  in  different  portions  of  the 
land ;  some  of  these  were  quite  extensive,  and  the  assem- 
bly was  cheered  by  reports  of  "scenes  resembling  those  of 
Pentecost." 

Efforts  in  Favor  of  Temperance. — The  subject  of  in- 
temperance, because  of  its  evils,  began  about  this  time  to 
attract  almost  universal  attention,  and  it  was  proposed  to 
arrest  its  widespread  influence.    The  first  effort  was  made 


244  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

from  a  medical  point  of  view  by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Benja- 
min Rush  of  Philadelphia  in  a  pamphlet  entitled:  "An 
Inquiry  into  the  Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits  on  the  Human 
Body  and  Mind."  This  pamphlet  by  order  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  was  widely  distributed. 

In  i8ii  the  General  Associations  of  Massachusetts 
and  of  Connecticut  and  the  assembly  each  appointed  a 
committee  to  investigate  the  subject  of  intemperance  and 
to  cooperate  in  devising-  measures  to  restrain  its  prog- 
ress. The  Connecticut  committee  reported  the  following 
year,  but  was  unable  to  devise  any  definite  plan  to  remedy 
or  remove  these  evils,  which  were  increasing  from  }ear 
to  year.  In  those  days,  strange  to  say,  rum  and  whisky 
were  both  used  as  beverages  even  at  ordinations  and  in- 
stallations of  ministers  of  the  gospel.  The  baneful  influ- 
ence of  the  custom  was  not  then  fully  realized  by  either 
the  ministers  or  the  members  of  the  church,  and  much  less 
by  the  people  outside  such  relations. 

Reports  on  Temperance. — Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  pres- 
ent when  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  Association 
of  Connecticut  was  made ;  he  at  once  moved  another  com- 
mittee to  report  on  the  subject  as  soon  as  possible  to  the 
association  (1812).  He  was  named  its  chairman  and  as 
such  prepared  the  report,  which  by  its  cogent  reasoning' 
and  illustrations  startled  the  members  who  realized,  as 
never  before,  the  enormous  evils  of  the  custom  of  using 
spirituous  liquors  as  a  common  beverage.  The  report 
glowed  with  the  peculiar  and  vivid  eloquence  of  its  au- 
thor; it  was  soon  afterward  followed  by  his  sermons  on 
the  evils  of  intemperance;  the  latter  were  widely  read 
and  approved  by  the  intelligent  and  well-disposed  citizens 
of  the  land. 

The  assembly  adopted  the  report  of  their  committee  and 
recommended  their  ministers  "to  preach  as  often  as  ex- 
pedient on  the  sins  and  mischiefs  of  intemperate  drink- 


Rev.  Charles  Coffin,   D.  D. 

(330,  33I-) 


THE    WAY     PREPARED     FOR    THE     PLAN     OF    UNION.      245 

ing  and  to  warn  their  hearers,  both  in  public  and  private, 
of  those  habits  and  indulgences  which  may  have  a  ten- 
dency to  produce  it."  It  went  further,  and  urged  vigilance 
on  the  part  of  the  sessions  of  the  churches  to  use  means 
by  sermons  and  the  circulation  of  tracts  on  the  evil  and 
to  make  efforts  to  limit  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks. 


XXVI. 

Presbyterian  Worthies. 

It  is  fitting  to  recognize,  though  for  lack  of  room  very 
briefly,  the  worth  of  some  of  that  galaxy  of  self-denying, 
learnedand  devoted  Presbyterian  ministerswho  duringthe 
latter  portion  of  the  last  and  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century  exerted  a  grand  and  consecrated  influence.  This 
they  did  as  pastors  directly  upon  the  members  of  their  own 
churches,  but  indirectly  throughout  the  Union  in  originat- 
ing the  benevolent  institutions  that  are  to-day  in  their  re- 
spective fields  grand  promoters  of  various  forms  of  use- 
fulness. These  worthies,  so  prominent,  were  nobly  aided 
and  sustained  by  multitudes  of  their  brother  ministers  of 
lesser  note,  whose  names,  perhaps,  have  been  forgotten 
in  this  generation  or  found  only  in  the  stored-away  records 
of  their  respective  presbyteries. 

Taggart,  Dana,  Morrison. — In  the  east  was  Rev,  Sam- 
uel Taggart  of  the  Presbytery  of  Londondery,  New 
Hampshire  .  He  combined  consistently  the  statesman  with 
the  sacred  office,  being  a  member  of  Congress  for  several 
terms.  A  man  of  devoted  piety  and  remarkable  for  his 
mental  powers  of  memory  and  logical  acumen.  Dr.  Daniel 
Dana  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  and  Dr.  William 
Morrison,  also  of  Londonderry,  were  men  of  far-reaching 
influence  as  pastors  and  of  talents  and  learning  that  com- 
manded the  respect  of  the  community  in  which  they  lived. 

Blatchford,  Nott,  Porter. — In  Northern  New  York  was 
Dr.  Samuel  Blatchford  of  Lansingburg;  a  gift  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church  from  the  English  Independents,  a 


PRESBYTERIAN     WORTHIES.  247 

devoted  friend  of  learning,  philanthropy  and  missions ;  in 
the  pulpit  instructive  and  of  wide  influence.  With  him 
was  associated  Dr.  Eliphalet  Nott,  president  of  Union 
College,  who  towered  above  his  peers  in  sacred  eloquence, 
and  noted  as  a  teacher  and  also  as  a  moulder  of  the  char- 
acters of  the  young  men  brought  under  his  magic  influ- 
ence. Dr.  David  Porter  of  Catskill,  a  master  in  theology, 
and  of  keen  sympathies,  eccentric  but  of  clear  judgment. 
At  Bridgehampton,  Long  Island,  was  Aaron  Woolworth, 
a  promoter  of  revivals  in  which  he  was  greatly  blessed, 
whose  daily  life  "was  a  fragrance  of  goodness." 

Rodgers,  P^rrine,Ronieyn, Spring. — In  the  City  of  New 
York  prominent  among  the  Presbyterian  clergymen  were 
Dr.  John  Rodgers,  Dr.  Matthew  L.  Perrine,  pastor  of 
Spring  Street  Church;  Dr.  John  BroadheadRomeyn  of  the 
Duane  street,  and  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring  of  the  historic 
Brick  Church.  One  of  the  remarkable  men  of  the  period 
was  Dr.  John  Rodgers,  who  was  trained  in  the  classical 
school  of  Dr.  Samuel  Blair,  at  Fagg's  Manor.  He  was 
intimately  connected  as  pastor  with  two  Presbyterian 
churches  in  New  York — the  "Old"  First  and  the  "His- 
toric" Brick,  an  offshoot  of  the  First.  During  the  Revolu- 
tion he  was  compelled  to  flee  the  city,  but  meantime  was 
chaplain  of  Gen.  Heath's  brigade  which  guarded  the  Hud- 
son in  the  Highlands.  The  British  evacuated  New  York 
on  November  25,  1783 ;  the  following  day  Dr.  Rodgers  re- 
turned home  to  find  both  church  buildings  desecrated  and 
almost  ruined  by  the  British,  while  the  number  of  the 
church  members  was  much  diminished  by  death  and  re- 
movals. By  his  energetic  labors  these  buildings  were  soon 
repaired,  meanwhile  the  Presbyterians  by  invitation  wor- 
shiped in  the  Episcopal  churches  St.  George  and  St.  Paul. 

In  every  important  movement  in  the  church  we  always 
find  Dr.  John  Rodgers  prominent ;  he  was  the  moderator 
of  the  first  General  Assembly  (1789).    He  was  a  strong 


248  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

advocate  for  renewing  the  fraternal  intercourse  that  had 
been  suspended  during  ihe  war  between  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  of  New  England  and  the  Presbyterians,  "as 
brethren  so  nearly  agreed  in  doctrine  and  forms  of  wor- 
ship." He  was  blessed  with  mental  ability  of  a  high  order, 
and  a  remarkable  symmetry  of  Christian  character;  far- 
seeing  but  not  visionary;  never  acting  till  he  saw  clearly 
his  way.  He  commanded  the  respect  of  the  entire  com- 
munity and  his  influence  was  almost  unbounded.  He  lived 
to  a  good  old  age  and  was  succeeded  in  his  pastorate  of  the 
Brick  Church  in  18 10  by  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring. 

Dr.  Matthew  La  Rue  Perrine  was  installed  pastor  of 
the  Spring  Street  Church  in  181 1.  Here  he  spent  nine 
years  most  usefully.  Because  of  his  gentle  disposition 
and  religious  zeal  he  was  characterized  as  "the  beloved 
disciple,'^  and  because  of  his  tact  and  prudence  "as  wise 
as  a  serpent  and  harmless  as  a  dove."  He  was  afterward 
chosen  for  a  higher  sphere  of  usefulness  in  teaching  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry  as  professor  of  church  history  and 
polity  in  the  Auburn  Theological  Seminary. 

Dr.  Romeyn  came  into  the  Presbyterian  denomination 
from  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  He  was  licensed  when 
only  twenty-one  years  of  age;  after  filling  acceptably  as 
a  minister  one  or  two  positions  he  was  installed  as  pastor 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Albany  (1804).  This 
was  a  trying  ordeal  for  the  youthful  pastor,  as  that  city 
was  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  to  it  was  attracted  "a 
large  amount  of  cultivated  intellect  and  professional  emi- 
nence ;  and  during  the  sessions  of  the  legislature,  particu- 
larly, the  church  was  thronged  with  strangers — manv  of 
them  persons  of  distinction,  from  various  parts  of  the 
State." 

Considerations  in  respect  to  his  own  health  and  that  of 
his  wife  induced  him  to  accept  a  call  to  the  Cedar  Street 
Church,  New  York,  which  afterward  removed  to  Duane 


PRESBYTERIAN     WORTHIES.  249 

(1808).  He  was  its  pastor  for  sixteen  years.  Never 
blessed  with  robust  health,  yet  he  labored  on  incessantly; 
his  influence  was  felt  and  appreciated  throughout  the 
church,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  important  positions  he 
was  called  upon  to  fill,  one  of  which  was  in  his  thirty- 
third  year  to  be  moderator  of  the  General  Assembly.  He 
was  ever  active  in  promoting  the  then  infant  benevolent 
institutions  of  the  day  and  church.  Especially  were  his 
labors  blessed  among  the  youth,  and  more  young  men  be- 
came ministers  from  his  congregation  than  from  any  other. 
He  instituted  catechetical  classes,  which  were  crowded  by 
the  young  ladies  regularly  attending  his  Bible  class,  which 
was  held  especially  for  them ;  every  one,  it  is  said,  became 
a  professor  of  religion.  Many  of  the  most  active  mem- 
bers of  the  benevolent  societies  of  the  time  were  from  the 
men  trained  under  him.  {S Prague's  Annals,  IV.,  p.  216.) 
The  Duane  Street  Church  under  the  pastorate  of  Dr. 
James  W.  Alexander  moved  to  Fifth  avenue  and  Nine- 
teenth street  (1854),  and  afterward  under  that  of  the 
late  Dr.  John  Hall  to  Fifty-fifth  in  the  same  avenue 

(1875). 

Dr.  Gardiner  Spring  had  intended  to  devote  himself  to 
the  legal  profession,  but  becoming  deeply  impressed 
in  reflecting  on  religious  subjects  he  changed  his 
views  and  studied  for  the  ministry.  He  succeeded 
Dr.  John  Rodgers  of  the  Brick  Church  in  New 
York  in  1810,  and  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury he  was  an  influential  pastor  and  among  the  fore- 
most of  the  Presbyterian  clergymen  of  the  day  in  pro- 
moting every  work  that  aided  the  cause  of  Christ,  as  in 
the  formation  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  in  which  he 
took  an  active  part.  He  was  at  all  times  equally  as  zealous 
in  advocating  missionary  societies — foreign  and  domestic 
— and  other  benevolent  institutions. 

Richards,  Griffin. — In  New  Jersey's  chief  city  were  the 
18 


250         A    HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

famous  ministers,  Dr.  James  Richards  and  Dr.  Edward 
Dorr  Griffin.  The  former  by  his  practical  wisdom  and 
unfeigned  piety  was  looked  up  to  as  a  safe  guide  in  all 
matters  pertaining  to  ecclesiastical  affairs.  Dr.  Griffin  was 
remarkable  for  his  imposing  personal  appearance,  being 
of  unusual  stature  and  of  symmetrical  proportions,  while 
his  intellect  was  equally  grand  in  its  power  and  acquire- 
ments. Previous  to  his  coming  to  Newark  he  had  been 
pastor  of  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  where  he  labored 
successfully  in  behalf  of  the  essentials  of  Christianity  in 
opposition  to  the  most  talented  and  learned  advocates 
of  Unitarianism,  then  in  the  height  of  its  influence  and 
which  its  devotees  wielded  with  consummate  skill.  Dr. 
Griffin  was  an  ardent  promoter  of  all  the  benevolent  in- 
stitutions of  the  day  and  church  till  his  death,  November 

8,  1837. 

Green,  the  Alexanders,  Miller,  Finley. — Dr.  Ashbel 
Green  was  inaugurated  president  of  Princeton  College  in 
1812.  He  exerted  an  almost  boundless  influence  over  the 
minds  of  the  students,  then  collected  from  all  portions 
of  the  Union.  He  was  very  decided  in  his  views,  which 
he  persistently  labored  to  carry  out  to  their  legitimate  re- 
sults. In  manners  of  the  old  school,  courteous  but  digni- 
fied and  grave  in  his  demeanor,  standing  by  his  convic- 
tions, which  sometimes  appeared  to  close  observers  to 
be  near  akin  to  theories.  He  took  for  many  years  a  very 
active  part  in  the  ecclesiastical  afifairs  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  has  been  styled  "the  connecting  link  between 
the  old  times  and  new." 

Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  was  inaugurated  August  12, 
1812,  the  first  professor  of  Didactic  and  Polemic  The- 
ology in  Princeton  Seminary.  Here  for  more  than  thirty 
years  he  exerted  an  almost  unbounded  influence  over  many 
hundreds  of  theological  students  to  the  great  advance- 
ment of  the  gospel  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.     He 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES.  25 1 

was  a  native  of  Virginia,  where  his  example  as  an  effi- 
cient pastor  and  preacher  was  highly  appreciated  by  his 
brethren  in  the  ministry  and  by  the  church  at  large,  as 
were  the  same  traits  when  afterward  a  pastor  in  Phila- 
delphia. He  married  a  daughter  of  the  celebrated  James 
Waddel,  the  "Blind  Preacher,"  whom  William  Wirt  so 
graphically  describes.  Dr.  Alexander's  sons,  James  Wad- 
del  and  Addison,  also  (the  one  as  a  preacher  and  writer, 
the  other  as  a  professor)  exerted  in  their  respective 
spheres  of  usefulness  a  direct  and  blessed  influence  in  the 
Presbyterian  church.  In  the  same  seminary  was  Dr.  Sam- 
uel Miller  (1813),  professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and 
Church  Government.  An  urbane,  scholarly  gentleman, 
who  in  his  special  line  of  instruction  was  not  inferior  to 
that  of  his  illustrious  compeer,  while  the  influence  of  his 
symmetrical  Christian  character  was  a  power  of  itself. 

Dr.  Robert  Finley,  when  quite  a  young  man,  because  of 
his  acquisitive  mind  and  stability  of  character,  gave  an 
earnest  of  his  future  usefulness.  At  the  age  of  six- 
teen he  graduated  at  Princeton,  and  in  that  institu- 
tion he  served  two  years  as  tutor  of  the  eight  which  he  de- 
voted to  teaching.  We  find  him  in  1795  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Baskinridge,  New  Jersey,  where  he  was  re- 
markably successful  in  his  ministrations.  In  order  to 
give  to  his  people  more  than  usual  biblical  knowledge  he 
established  special  classes  for  the  purpose.  Having  thor- 
oughly tested  the  method,  and  finding  it  the  source  of  great 
edification  to  his  own  congregation,  he  laid  the  matter 
before  the  General  Assembly  (1815).  After  explanations 
and  the  account  of  the  beneficial  results,  the  assembly  en- 
dorsed the  plan  and  cordially  recommended  the  practice 
to  all  its  ministers  and  pastors.  Here  was  the  commence- 
ment of  the  system  of  Bible  classes,  which  to-day  are  so 
numerous  and  so  blessed  in  their  influence. 

In  1 8 16  he  devised  the  plan  for  planting  a  colony  in 


252  A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Africa,  to  which  free  colored  men  could  emigrate  and  find 
homes  for  themselves  and  their  families.  He  went  to 
Washington  City  and  in  his  intercourse  with  members  of 
Congress  and  the  officials  of  the  government,  secured  the 
formation  of  the  African  Colonization  Society,  whicli  ul- 
timately founded  the  republic  of  Liberia.  The  first  presi- 
dent of  this  society  was  Bushrod  Washington. 

Afterward  Dr.  Finley  became  president  of  Georgia  Uni- 
versity at  Athens,  in  that  State.  But  his  intense  labors 
and  the  debilitating  effect  of  a  climate  to  which  he  was  not 
accustomed  speedily  ended  his  useful  life,  October,  1817. 

Janeway,  Wilson,  Skinner,  Ely,  Patterson. — This  cata- 
logue of  marked  and  efficient  ministers  found  a  counter- 
part in  Pennsylvania,  where  lived  and  labored  among  other 
worthies  Dr.  Jacob  J.  Janeway,  James  Patriot  Wilson, 
Thomas  H.  Skinner,  Ezra  Stiles  Ely  and  James  Patterson. 

Dr.  Jacob  J.  Janeway,  long  pastor  of  the  Second  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Philadelphia,  exerted  a  beneficent  influ- 
ence, not  limited  to  the  city  alone,  but  throughout  the 
denomination.  He  was  a  native  of  New  York  City  and  a 
graduate  of  Columbia  College  (1794).  He  studied  the- 
ology under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Livingston  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church.  After  remaining  as  colleague  and 
pastor  for  twenty-seven  years  Dr.  Janeway  accepted  a  pro- 
fessorship in  the  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary  at 
Allegheny  City,  Pennsylvania,  which  he  resigned  after 
four  years  of  service.  His  efforts  were  afterward  specially 
directed  to  the  promotion  of  a  number  of  the  benevolent 
enterprises  of  the  church.  The  latter  for  the  most  part 
had  been  instituted  within  recent  years  and  were  gradually 
developing  into  fields  of  almost  unbounded  usefulness. 

James  Patriot  Wilson — of  Scotch-Irish  descent — was 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia 
from  1806  to  1830.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  (1788)  and  after  studying  law  he 


PRESBYTERIAN     WORTHIES.  253 

entered  upon  its  practice  and  obtained  a  reputation  as  a 
lawyer  not  exceeded  by  any  one  in  his  native  State,  Dela- 
ware. Sorrows  crossed  his  path  which  had  the  effect, 
first  of  neutralizing  his  skeptical  opinions  and  finally  of 
leading  him  to  become  a  Christian  and  to  enter  upon  the 
gospel  ministry.  His  talents  commanded  the  respect  of 
all,  and  being  "the  model  of  a  Christian  gentleman"  he 
became  one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  perhaps  its  foremost  minister.  An  ardent 
student,  with  a  disciplined  mind,  he  was  able  to  utilize 
his  learning  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow  men.  Of  a  logical 
mind,  his  sermons  were  well  arranged  and  studied,  though 
he  never  used  a  note  in  the  pulpit.  His  aim  was  ever  to 
elucidate  the  true  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  and  make 
the  application  to  his  hearers  of  the  principles  contained 
therein.  He  was  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  the  day. 
Dr.  Thomas  H.  Skinner  was  pastor  of  the  Fifth  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Philadelphia  after  having  been  some 
time  co-pastor  with  Dr.  Janeway  in  the  Second  Church. 
Within  the  latter  difficulties  arose.  Some  of  the  church 
members  attributed  to  him  "Hopkinsian  tenets,"  when  he 
"was  decidedly  Edwardian"  in  his  preaching  and  in  his 
theological  views.  The  latter  was  misinterpreted,  and  in 
consequence  charges  of  heresy  were  brought  before  the 
presbytery  and  by  that  body  he  was  triumphantly  vindi- 
cated. He  remained  pastor  till  his  vindication  was  secured, 
when  he  resigned  and  a  portion  of  the  church  members 
who  sympathized  with  him  also  withdrew  (November  5, 
1815).  Almost  immediately  he  was  invited  to  the  Fifth 
Church,  situated  on  Locust  street,  but  in  an  undesirable 
location,  the  congregation  being  also  in  a  very  depressed 
condition.  Here  he  labored  faithfully  for  seven  years, 
when  he  received  a  call  to  New  Orleans  (1822).  In  order 
to  induce  him  to  remain  the  place  of  the  church  building 
was  changed  to  a  more  suitable  locality,  that  of  Arch  street, 


254         A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

where  a  commodious  edifice  was  erected.  Within  a  short 
time,  when  occupied,  it  was  crowded  with  large  assem- 
blies, who  were  fascinated  by  the  earnest  and  logical  pre- 
sentation of  gospel  truth.  For  a  number  of  years  Dr. 
Skinner  remained  a  successful  pastor  of  this  church. 
Afterward  he  was  a  professor  in  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  then  pastor  of  the  Mercer  Street  Church  in 
New  York  and  finally  a  professor  in  Union  Theological 
Seminary  in  that  city. 

Ezra  Stiles  Ely,  pastor  of  the  Third  Church  and  suc- 
cessor of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  was  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut, in  which  State  he  had  been  a  pastor  previous  to 
his  coming  to  Philadelphia.  A  man  of  great  mental  activ- 
ity and  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  gos- 
pel, he  entered  into  controversies  with  great  zest,  espe- 
cially did  he  oppose  "Hopkinsianism,"  a  fruitful  theme 
of  discussion  at  that  time  among  the  leading  minds  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  was  the  author  of  several  books 
on  controversial  subjects,  while  editor  of  thePhiladelphian. 
For  eleven  years  (1825-1836)  he  was  stated  clerk  of  the 
General  Assembly,  and  in  1828  its  moderator.  In  order  to 
advance  general  and  theological  education  he  devised  a 
plan  to  establish  at  Marion,  Missouri,  a  college  in  con 
nection  with  a  theological  seminary  (1835).  In  this  en- 
terprise he  labored  a  number  of  years,  but  the  very  ex- 
tensive financial  reverses  of  1837  neutralized  his  efiforts 
besides  absorbing  his  fortune,  and  he  returned  to  Phila- 
delphia. Soon  afterward  he  was  invited  to  the  pastorate 
of  a  Presbyterian  church;  here  he  labored  with  his  usual 
zeal  till  a  stroke  of  paralysis  (1850)  prevented  his  fur- 
ther preaching. 

Rev.  James  Patterson  became  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Northern  Liberties,  in  1814.  It  had  been 
a  much-neglected  field,  and  the  population  was  composed 
mostly  of  the  poorer  classes.    When  he  became  pastor  the 


PRESBYTERIAN     WORTHIES.  255 

entire  number  of  the  organization  was  only  fifty-three,  yet 
owing  to  his  energy  and  apostolic  zeal  the  house  in  a 
short  time  was  crowded  with  interested  listeners.  The 
pastor  visited  the  lanes  and  back  alleys  and  found  num- 
bers of  ignorant  and  vicious  adults,  while  multitudes  of 
neglected  children  swarmed  in  every  direction.  Having 
heard  that  a  Christian  lady  of  New  Brunswick  was  in  the 
habit  of  collecting  in  her  own  house  on  the  Sabbath  a  num- 
ber of  poor  and  neglected  children  and  there  giving  them 
religious  instruction,  he  determined  to  make  a  similar  ef- 
fort, but  on  a  much  larger  scale.  The  result  was  that  in 
a  short  time  more  than  a  hundred  children  were  brougfet 
together  to  receive  Bible  instruction.  The  work  continued 
to  prosper  and  "the  Sabbath  School  Association  of  the 
Northern  Liberties"  was  formed.  Here  was  the  germ  of 
the  Sunday  school  system  in  the  city,  as  similar  ones  were 
organized  in  other  churches  and  finally  throughout  the 
land. 

Patterson  also  endeavored  to  interest  his  people  in 
prayer  meetings;  the  first  one  held  had  present  besides 
the  pastor  only  two  apprentice  boys.  In  the  course  of  a 
few  years  this  public  beginning  had  increased  to  forty-four 
in  number,  held  every  week.  His  people  "laid  hold  of  the 
thing"  and  thus  four  thousand  persons  were  brought  un- 
der religious  instruction.  These  prayer  meeting  services 
extended  to  the  lanes  and  alleys  of  the  city  to  a  distance  of 
four  miles  from  the  church. 

Some  of  the  measures  he  introduced  would  be  deemed 
imprudent  under  ordinary  circumstances,  but  his  tact  and 
whole-soul  devotion  were  successful  in  making  such  meas- 
ures available  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  He  was  in  a  pecu- 
liar position,  amid  a  people  who  had  been  woefully  neg- 
lected in  their  religious  education,  while  on  all  sides  vice 
in  every  form  was  rampant.  During  more  than  twenty 
years  revival  followed  revival  and  "scores  upon  scores 


256         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

were  received,  successively,  at  single  seasons  of  commun- 
ion," and  the  original  fifty-three  became  about  twelve  hun- 
dred communicants.    {Gillett,  I.,  pp.  488-492). 


XXVII. 

Presbyterian  Worthies  Continued. 

Hoge,  Rice. — Among  the  representative  Presbyterian 
ministers  south  of  Pennsylvania,  two  held  important  posi- 
tions of  influence.  These  were  Moses  Hoge  and  John  Holt 
Rice.    They  both  were  natives  of  Virginia. 

Dr.  Moses  Hoge  when  quite  a  young  man  entered  the 
Army  of  the  Revolution,  the  classical  school  in  which  he 
was  a  pupil  being  broken  up  by  the  ravages  of  the  war. 
We  next  find  him  in  1787  pastor  of  a  church  at  Shepherds- 
town,  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  The  religious  condition 
of  the  church  was  at  a  low  ebb,  but  twenty  years  of  faith- 
ful and  judiciously  conducted  services  greatly  increased 
the  number  of  the  congregation.  His  talents  and  acquire- 
ments attracted  attention  and  he  (1807)  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  Hampden-Sidney  College,  succeeding  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Alexander.  His  mind  was  one  of  unusual  vigor  and 
originality,  well  disciplined  and  well  furnished  with  biblical 
knowledge.  The  Synod  of  Virginia  resolved  to  establish  a 
theological  seminary  within  its  own  bounds  and  also  in 
connection  with  the  college,  and  to  this  professorship  of 
theology  it  unanimously  appointed  Dr.  Hoge  (1812). 

John  Holt  Rice,  a  man  of  ardent  piety  and  more  than 
usually  blest  with  practical  wisdom  and  charity, was  pastor 
at  Richmond  (1812).  At  the  time  of  his  acceptance  of 
that  pastorate  there  were  very  few  Presbyterians  in  the 
city,  and  they  much  scattered.  This  fact  may  account  for 
the  phraseology  of  the  invitation  sent  him,  as  "a  call  from 
a  number  of  persons  in  Richmond  and  its  vicinity  attached 


258  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

to  the  Presbyterian  Church."  After  the  pastorate  here  of 
about  eleven  years  he  was  appointed  by  the  Synod  of  Vir- 
ginia to  succeed  Moses  Hoge  as  professor  of  theology 
at  Hampden-Sidney  (1823).  The  seminary  was  in  great 
need  of  funds  and  Dr.  Rice  took  a  journey  to  secure  them. 
He  visited  many  of  the  churches  in  New  England  and  was 
successful  in  meeting  a  cordial  reception  for  himself  per- 
sonally and  substantial  aid  for  the  seminary. 

His  preaching,  notwithstanding  his  peculiar  manner, 
captivated  his  hearers  by  his  noble  thoughts  and  the  love- 
liness of  his  Christian  character.  It  is  said  by  an  author- 
ity that  "among  the  ministers  of  the  day  he  had  not,  per- 
haps, his  superior  in  the  mastery  of  sound,  pure,  vigorous 
English."  He  was  devoted  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  which  he  believed  could  be  obtained  only 
through  peace  and  unity,  saying:  "The  church  is  not  to 
be  purified  by  controversy,  but  by  holy  love."  His  visit 
to  the  Northern  States  had  an  influence  in  drawing  out 
the  religious  sympathies  of  the  Congregationalists  and 
Presbyterians  toward  one  another,  north  and  south.  The 
times  for  such  influence  were  propitious.  The  "era  of 
good  feeling"  in  the  political  atmosphere  had  the  effect  of 
alluring  the  people  of  the  different  sections  into  a  broad 
patriotism,  based  upon  Christian  principles. 

Dr.  John  McMillan. — We  now  pass  beyond  the  Alle- 
ghanies  into  Western  Pennsylvania  and  the  adjacent  ter- 
ritory. The  inhabitants  of  this  region  were  preeminently 
Presbyterian,  since  thither  had  migrated  from  east  of  the 
mountains  numerous  Covenanters  and  Seceders,  besides 
the  still  greater  number  of  the  representatives  of  American 
Presbyterianism.  In  that  portion  of  the  church  the  most 
prominent  theologian  and  instructor  in  theology  during 
a  period  of  a  third  of  a  century  was  Dr.  John  McMillan : 
"The  father  of  Canonsburg  Academy  and  of  Jefferson 
College."    His  direct  and  most  potent  influence  was  over 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES    CONTINUED.  259 

the  minds  of  his  pupils,  not  only  of  the  many  who  studied 
for  the  ministry,  but  of  those  who  entered  other  profes- 
sions. He  deemed  himself  not  merely  the  instructor  of  his 
students  but  likewise  their  pastor,  and  that  theory  was 
carried  into  practice  when  afterward  applied  to  Jefferson 
College,  whose  president  was  the  recognised  pastor  of  its 
students. 

Porter,  Power,  Marquis,  Dunlap,  Ralston. — Among 
these  worthy  pioneers  was  Dr.  Samuel  Porter,  who  orig- 
inally belonged  to  the  Covenanters,  his  ancestors  being  of 
that  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  family.  Following  the 
advice  of  Dr.  McMillan  and  Dr.  Joseph  Smith  he  prepared 
himself  for  the  ministry.  He  labored  under  the  disad- 
vantage of  not  having  a  full  collegiate  education.  In  re- 
spect to  that  requirement  the  presbytery  in  his  case  made 
an  exception.  Thirsting  for  knowledge  and  endowed  with 
a  vigorous  mind,  his  attention  was  providentially  drawn 
to  reading  and  studying  theological  works.  He  as  a  lay- 
man became  noted  for  his  progress  in  that  special  field  of 
knowledge. 

He  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone  in  1789 
and  the  following  year  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gruity  Church,  in  Westmoreland  County;  this,  his  only 
pastorate,  lasted  thirty-five  years.  He  was  a  peculiarly 
gifted  son  of  nature;  remarkably  eloquent,  having  the 
power  to  utilize  his  knowledge  to  the  best  advantage  in 
presenting  the  truths  of  the  gospel.  He  was  characterized 
as  the  Patrick  Henry  of  the  Presbyterian  pulpit.  He  was 
also  a  staunch  patriot  and  stern  lover  of  order;  though 
not  without  personal  danger,  he  boldly  opposed  in  his  ser- 
mons and  addresses  the  unlawful  actions  of  the  famous 
whiskey  insurrectionists  in  1794.  (Four  Hundred  Years, 
etc.,  pp.  485-487.)  By  his  eloquent  appeals  he  restrained 
their  excited  passions  and  modified  their  prejudices.  He 
was  quick  at  repartee,  his  imagery  often  startling,  while  his 


26o  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

appeals  were  so  overpowering  that  he  held  complete  mas- 
tery of  his  audience  and  left  the  impression  upon  the  in- 
telligent hearer  as  that  of  a  man  of  moral  and  intellectual 
greatness. 

Rev.  James  Power,  who  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
settled  pastor  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  was  born  in  1746 
at  Nottingham,  Chester  County,  of  that  State.  He  grad- 
uated at  Princeton,  1766,  and  in  1772  was  licensed  by  the 
New  Castle  Presbytery.  After  preaching  in  Virginia  for 
two  years  he  crossed  the  mountains  and  entered  upon  mis- 
sionary labors  among  the  settlements  of  that  region,  with- 
in the  territory  of  the  now  populous  and  rich  counties  of 
Fayette,  Washington,  Allegheny  and  Westmoreland. 
Afterward  making  a  visit  to  the  East  for  two  years  he  re- 
turned with  his  family  and  continued  in  active  duty  as  "an 
itinerant  missionary  till  in  1779  he  became  the  regular 
pastor  of  two  congregations,  Sewickley  and  Mount  Pleas- 
ant, in  Westmoreland  County.  He  was  the  first  settled 
pastor  in  that  region.  His  influence  was  of  a  uniform 
and  strong  character,  the  outgrowth  of  quiet  and  courteous 
manners  and  unremitting  zeal  as  a  pastor  devoted  to  his 
special  duties,  while  at  the  same  time  attractive  to  all  as  a 
graceful  and  instructive  preacher. 

Rev.  Thomas  Marquis  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  bom 
in  1753,  of  Irish  parentage.  His  father  was  a  large  land- 
holder, but  by  his  early  death  Thomas,  the  fourth  son,  and 
the  other  children  were  left  destitute,  since  by  the  colonial 
law,  following  that  of  England,  the  landed  estate  went  to 
the  eldest  son.  When  about  the  age  of  thirteen  he  com* 
menced  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  weaver.  Tradition  tells 
that  in  after  life  when  working  at  his  trade,  to  do  which 
he  was  often  compelled  to  eke  out  his  support,  he  would 
fasten  a  book  in  a  proper  position  in  order  that  he  might 
read  and  ply  his  loom  at  the  same  time,  the  only  inte'TUiv- 


PRESBYTERIAN     WORTHIES     CONTINUED.  261 

tion  being  when  replenishing  the  spool  in  the  shuttle ;  and 
thus  he  became  remarkably  well  read. 

When  twenty-three  years  of  age  and  already  married 
he  migrated  to  Western  Pennsylvania.  After  a  course  of 
private  study  in  the  classics  under  the  tuition  of  Rev.  Jo- 
seph Smith,  and  of  theology  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
John  McMillan,  he  was  licensed  by  the  Redstone  Presby- 
tery, April  19,  1793,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age.  The 
following  year  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Cross 
Creek  Church  in  Washington  County,  and  as  such  re- 
mained till  1826.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  built  his 
cabin  in  the  woods  near  where  the  village  of  Cross  Creek 
now  stands,  in  order  to  be  under  the  protection  of  Vance's 
fort,  as  hostile  Indians  were  often  prowling  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Here  he  became  a  Christian  and  was  one  of  the 
original  members  of  the  church  when  it  was  organized 
(1779),  and  from  the  first  one  of  its  ruling  elders  till  he 
was  licensed  to  preach,  and  afterward  its  pastor  for  thirty- 
two  years. 

He  was  characterized  as  the  "silver-tongued,"  "whose 
voice  was  music  and  whose  art  of  persuasion  was  well-nigh 
perfect."  Even  in  the  last  generation  tradition  continued 
to  tell  of  his  marvelous  eloquence.  How  "he  bore  his  au- 
dience with  him  on  the  tide  of  his  own  emotions,  and  some- 
times their  intenseness  of  feeling  seemed  to  outvie  liis 
own."  He  was  always  deeply  imbued  with  the  importance 
of  his  divine  subject,  and  of  the  responsibilities  of  the 
sacred  office. 

Ardent  in  his  zeal  for  promoting  missionary  efforts  in 
the  numerous  destitute  settlements  round  about,  he  often 
seized  the  opportunity  to  go  on  tours  himself,  while  en- 
couraging the  cause  and  judiciously  directing  the  labors 
of  others  engaged  in  the  work.  Upon  the  whole  there  was 
no  one  of  the  worthies  of  the  time  thus  laboring  on  the 
frontiers  who  as  a  preacher  had  so  strong  a  hold  upon  the 


262  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

popular  mind  as  Mr.  Marquis.  His  eloquence  was  of  a 
broad  type,  and  adapted  to  other  conditions  than  those 
on  the  frontiers ;  for  illustration,  when  a  commissioner  to 
the  General  Assembly  he  preached  to  one  of  the  most  in- 
telligent congregations  in  Philadelphia;  his  audience  was 
deeply  moved,  while  the  pastor — the  celebrated  Dr.  Ashbel 
Green — was  equally  as  much  affected  by  the  matter  and 
the  manner  of  the  discourse. 

Other  Honored  Names. — Space  forbids  the  pleasing 
task  of  enumerating,  even  briefly,  all  the  names  and  labors 
of  the  many  other  worthies  who  filled  their  positions  dur- 
ing this  formative  period  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
that  distant  region,  designated  "beyond  the  mountains." 
What  a  noble  catalogue  of  devoted  and  public-spirited  pas- 
tors we  have  in  the  names  of  such  men  as  the  Revs.  Joseph 
Smith,  John  McPherrin,  Robert  Marshall,  James  Hughes, 
Dr.  George  Hill,  Robert  Johnston,  James  Guthrie,  Elisha 
MaCurdy,  the  great  revivalist;  William  Johnston,  Ashbel 
Green  Fairchild,  and  others;  Dr.  James  Dunlap,  a  grad- 
uate of  Princeton,  a  student  of  theology  under  James  Fin- 
ley,  pastor  of  the  Laurel  Hill  and  Dunlap's  Creek  congre- 
gations, afterward  president  of  Jefferson  College.  Dr. 
Samuel  Ralston,  born  in  Ireland  in  1756,  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  1794;  imbued  with  the  religious 
doctrines  taught  in  the  Bible  and  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession, migrated  to  Western  Pennsylvania  and  in  1796  be- 
came pastor  of  the  churches  at  Mingo  Creek  and  Williams- 
port  (now  Monongahela  City)  ;  here  he  labored  for  thir- 
ty-five years  till  the  infirmities  of  age  overcame  his  wonted 
energy.  A  man  of  great  mental  activity,  of  fine  scholar- 
ship and  withal  of  genuine  piety,  noted  for  his  kindness  of 
heart  and  gifted  with  the  peculiar  and  graceful  wit  of  his 
countrymen.  An  ardent  friend  of  education,  a  trustee  of 
Jefferson  College,  and  for  many  years  the  president  of  the 
board.    The  pen,  though  reluctantly,  must  stop  somewhere. 


PRESBYTERIAN     WORTHIES     CONTINUED.  263 

Let  another — no  one  more  competent — give  a  summary  of 
the  influence  exerted  by  these  worthies. 

An  Appreciative  Estimate. — Rarely,  if  ever,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country  has  any 
of  its  missionary  fields  been  occupied  by  a  more  able  and 
devoted  band  of  pioneer  laborers  than  that  which  was  cov- 
ered by  the  Old  Redstone  Presbytery.  In  wise  and  saga- 
cious forethought  and  provision  for  the  prospective  wants 
of  the  church,  as  well  as  in  unwearied  and  faithful  cultiva- 
tion of  their  own  fields,  they  have  been  rarely  equalled  and 
never  surpassed.  Their  self-denial,  their  energy  and  their 
success  alike  entitle  them  to  the  highest  honor.  In  spirit 
they  were  the  successors  to  the  Biairs,  Finleys  and  Smiths 
of  the  revival  period,  who  during  the  division  adhered  to 
the  New  Side  and  the  cause  of  vital  piety.  {Pp.  153-154.) 
Many  of  them  were  rarely  gifted,  and  would  have  done 
honor  to  the  most  exalted  station,  and  the  influence  which 
they  exerted  upon  the  great  western  field  then  opening 
with  inviting  promise  to  eastern  emigration  cannot  be  es- 
timated.   {Dr.  E.  H.  Gillett,  I.,  p.  267.) 

The  Continued  Influence. — In  this  catalogue  compara- 
tively only  a  few  names  have  been  mentioned  of  the  noble, 
learned  and  devotedly  Christian  men,  whoduring  theperiod 
which  includes  a  portion  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  last 
century  and  the  first  half  of  this  exerted  a  combined  influ- 
ence that  permeated  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church.  In 
this  period,  as  an  outgrowth  of  the  Christian  zeal  of  these 
men,  originated  the  missionary  and  other  benevolent  in- 
stitutions which  to-day  are  a  power  in  the  land  for  doing 
good.  All  the  pastors  in  their  respective  spheres,  however 
humble,  manifested  their  appreciation  of  the  cause  by 
impressing  upon  their  congregations  its  vast  importance. 
Here,  though  feeble  at  first,  began  a  system  of  training 
individual  church  members  to  realii^e  their  responsibility 


264  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

to  do  their  part  by  furnishing  the  funds  requisite  to  carry 
the  gospel  to  every  portion  of  their  own  land  and  also  to 
the  world  outside. 


XXVIII. 
Progress  of  the  Church. 

Formation  of  National  Societies. — We  have  already  no- 
ticed the  formation  of  local  societies  for  missionary  pur- 
poses (pp.  2^y-2^8),  but  now  the  extension  of  the  work 
demanded  organizations  on  a  larger  scale  to  supply  the  re- 
ligious wants  of  the  people  on  the  frontier,  west  of  the 
older  settlements.  This  was  specially  the  case  when  the 
country  settled  down  to  peace  and  harmony  after  the  close 
of  the  War  of  1812.  The  Christian  sentiment  of  sending 
the  gospel  to  the  destitute  portions  of  our  own  country  and 
to  heathen  lands  was  aroused  and  seemed  to  pervade  al- 
most everywhere  the  religious  communities.  This  is 
evident  from  the  great  numbers  of  local  missionary  socie- 
ties that  sprung  into  existence  and  which  did  a  grand  local 
work.  The  time  was,  however,  drawing  near  for  the 
blending  of  these  societies  in  the  form  of  auxiliaries  with 
others  that  were  so  comprehensive  in  their  scope  and  op- 
erations as  to  be  national  in  their  character. 

We  will  give  a  summary  of  the  societies  formed  during 
the  first  third  of  this  century,  and  to  which  in  due  time  in 
order  to  promote  their  greater  efficiency  the  existing  local 
societies  became  auxiliary.  In  October,  1802,  the  S^nod 
of  Pittsburg,  when  in  session  in  that  city,,  organized  the 
Western  Missionary  Society,  its  primary  object  being  to 
meet  the  increasing  and  almost  universal  calls  on  the  part 
of  the  people  for  more  ministers  of  the  gospel.  This  de- 
mand was  the  outgrowth  of  the  great  revival  {pp.  224- 
5J5).  There  is  a  peculiar  interest  attached  to  this  move- 
19 


2  66  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

ment  as  it  was  the  first  instance  in  the  Presbyterian  body  in 
which  the  theory  of  the  church  being  ex-oiUcio  a  mission- 
any  society  took  form  in  the  announcement,  "TA^^j/Mod  of 
Pittsburg  shall  he  styled  the  Western  Missionary  Society." 
This  society  had  a  far-reaching  influence,  as  it  was  the 
germ  of  the  present  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions (1831).  The  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
was  formed  in  1810,  the  American  Bible  Society  in  1816, 
the  Baptist  Church  entered  fully  upon  the  work  of  foreign 
missions  in  1814,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  in  1819,  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  in  1832,  Protestant  Episcopal  in  1838,  and 
afterward  others;  in  all  fifteen  societies  were  organized. 
It  is  seen  by  the  formation  of  these  societies  that  all  the 
evangelical  denominations  throughout  the  land  were  man- 
ifesting unusual  interest  in  promoting  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions.    {Four  Hundred  Years'  Hist.,  p.  6j6.) 

Reasons  for  Educational  Societies. — In  a  line  with  these 
missionary  movements  was  another,  the  supplying  minis- 
ters in  sufficient  numbers  to  meet  the  increasing  religious 
wants  of  the  churches  and  of  the  people  at  large.  To  ac- 
complish this  object  attention  was  directed  to  the  expe- 
diency of  aiding  Christian  and  otherwise  suitable  young 
men,  though  of  limited  means,  in  obtaining  the  requisite 
education.  The  number  is  comparatively  very,  very  small 
of  Christian  young  men  that  happen  to  be  sufficiently  rich, 
and  therefore  able  to  bear  the  expenses  of  their  own  the- 
ological education,  but  who  are  also  willing  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  gospel  ministry.  On  the  other  hand,  how 
slender  are  the  hopes  of  success  in  a  worldly  point  of 
view  to  induce  students  to  devote  sufficient  time,  labor 
and  expense  in  preparing  themselves  for  the  ministry  in 
either  the  Congregational  or  Presbyterian  Church !  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  other  denominations.  The  mo- 
tive, therefore,  for  undergoing  the  expense  and  the  labor 
m  preparing  for  the  ultimate  object  of  the  theological  stu- 


PROGRESS     OF    THE    CHURCH.  267 

dent  must  be  in  the  desire  to  preach  the  gospel  for  its  cwn 
sake.  This  may  account  for  the  fact  that  so  many  stu- 
dents of  theology  are  willing  to  practice  great  self-denial 
m  preparing  themselves  for  the  sacred  office.  From  posi- 
tive knowledge  we  know  that  as  a  class  no  students  prac- 
tice self-denial  and  labor  so  hard  in  their  studies  as  do  the 
theological. 

The  Union  of  Educational  Societies. — There  had  been 
for  a  number  of  years  local  societies  in  New  England  and 
in  some  of  the  other  States  to  aid  theological  students,  but 
the  call  for  ministers  became  so  urgent  and  continuous 
that  it  was  deemed  expedient  and  even  necessary  to  en- 
large the  field  of  the  associations.  The  first  to  be  inau- 
gurated was  the  American  Educational  Society  (1815), 
located  at  Boston.  To  this  society  in  due  time,  to  pro- 
mote greater  efficiency  in  the  work,  the  local  societies  of 
that  section  for  the  most  part  became  auxiliary.  The  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Education  was  established  in  1819.  This 
action  of  the  General  Assembly  stimulated  the  movement 
and  numbers  of  similar  auxiliary  societies  were  organized 
within  the  bounds  of  the  church.  Some  of  these,  how- 
ever, perhaps  the  majority,  gave  their  contributions  to  the 
American  society,  evidently  because  of  its  better  facilities 
of  applying  them  practically. 

A  union  of  the  American  and  Presbyterian  Educational 
societies  took  place  in  1827.  The  latter  at  this  time  had 
under  its  care  about  one  hundred  students,  and  its  opera- 
tions had  been  mostly  within  the  bounds  of  the  Middle 
States.  The  union  of  these  two  societies  made  one  that 
was  national  in  its  influence.  In  truth  the  sentiment  of 
nationality  had  greatly  increased  since  the  close  of  the 
War  of  1 812 — sometimes  characterized  as  the  second  war 
of  independence — not  merely  in  the  political  and  industrial 
but  in  the  religious  world,  and  on  this  line  of  religions 
policy  the  missionary  societies  had  gradually  assumed  a 


268  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

national  character.  In  the  year  1830  the  American  so- 
ciety removed  its  headquarters  from  Boston  to  New  York 
City,  it  being  a  center  of  greater  influence  because  of  its 
geographical  position. 

Dueling. — The  barbarous  practice  of  dueling  prevailed 
in  portions  of  the  land,  though  usually  among  those  who 
prided  themselves  as  being  in  the  upper  circles  of  society. 
In  the  minds  of  the  Christian  public,  however,  there  was 
a  strong  undercurrent  against  the  custom.  In  the  vicinity 
where  duels  occasionally  occurred,  there  was  often 
roused  an  indignant  feeling  of  disapproval,  but  which 
owing  to  the  circumstances,  was  only  local  in  its  influence. 
Alexander  Hamilton,  recognized  next  to  Washington,  the 
statesman  of  the  period,  fell  a  victim  of  the  custom  at  the 
hands  of  Aaron  Burr.  On  this  occasion,  owing  to  Hamil- 
ton's position,  was  roused  an  intense  and  almost  national 
sense  of  the  atrocity  of  his  virtual  assassination.  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher,  then  a  young  man,  at  the  first  meeting 
of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  after  the  mur- 
der, introduced  resolutions  condemning  in  severe  terms 
the  custom  of  dueling.  Although  timidity  adduced 
"strong  political  reasons"  why  they  should  not  pass,  the 
synod,  nevertheless,  in  most  emphatic  terms,  condemned 
the  murderous  practice.  Dr.  Beecher  had  already  ex- 
pressed his  views  on  the  subject  in  a  sermon  which  star- 
tled his  congregation,  as  he  unveiled  in  vivid  terms  the 
criminality  of  the  custom,  which  he  characterized  as  a 
national  sin,  because  of  its  prevalence  within  our  borders, 
and  he  pointed  out  that  those  who  honored  the  duelist 
were  conniving  at  murder.  Afterward,  the  sermon  was 
published  and,  having  a  very  large  circulation,  aided  much 
in  rousing  an  intense  feeling  against  the  practice. 

Many  other  clergymen  of  the  time  did  not  hesitate  tO 
notice  in  appropriate  terms  the  so-called  "code  of  honor," 
such  as  Dr.  John  M.  Mason  of  the  Scotch  Church,  and 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  269 

notably  among  these  sermons  was  one  supremely  eloquent, 
by  Dr.  Eliphalet  Nott,  then  President  of  Union  College. 
It  was  circulated  in  pamphlet  form  throughout  the  land, 
and  had  also  a  very  great  effect  upon  the  public  mind. 

The  following  year  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  in- 
structed its  commissioners  to  ask  the  General  Assembly  to 
recommend  the  ministers  of  the  church  not  "to  officiate  at 
the  funeral  of  any  one  who  was  known  to  have  been  con- 
cerned in  a  duel,  or  had  given  or  accepted  a  challenge." 
The  assembly  (1805)  took  high  ground,  expressing  its 
abhorrence  of  the  practice,  as  "a.  remnant  of  Gothic  bar- 
barism *  *  *  a  presumptuous  and  highly  criminal  ap- 
peal to  God  as  the  Sovereign  Judge."  And  in  addition, 
also  recommended  that  no  persons  thus  engaged,  unless 
they  had  given  clear  evidence  of  repentance,  should  be 
admitted  to  the  distinguishing  privileges  of  the  church. 

Opposition  to  Slavery. — In  1787  the  United  Synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  expressed  the  views  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  by  resolving  that  they  were  in  favor 
of  "promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery" — a  sentiment  they 
had  expressed  again  and  again — and  closed  by  "recom- 
mending the  people  under  their  care  to  use  prudent  meas- 
ures consistent  with  the  interest  and  state  of  civil  society 
in  the  parts  where  they  live,  to  procure,  eventually,  the 
final  abolition  of  slavery  in  America."  This  was  the  same 
year  in  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
formed.  The  convention  which  framed  it  met  on  the  14th 
of  May,  in  Philadelphia,  and  continued  in  session  four 
months.  The  synod  met  also  in  the  same  city  and  at  the 
same  time,  and  its  published  utterance  on  the  subject  was 
not  without  influence. 

The  subject  of  slavery  was  also  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  assembly  soon  after  its  organization  on  a  national 
basis  (1795).  Twenty  years  later,  in  181 5,  a  number  of 
elders,  who  had  scruples  in  respect  to  the  holding  of 


270         A    HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

slaves,  petitioned  the  assembly  to  take  action  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  at  the  same  time  came  an  overture  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Ohio,  asking  for  a  deliverance  in  relation  to 
the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves.  After  expressing  deep 
regret  at  the  continuance  of  slavery,  and  also  recognizing 
the  difficulties  in  remedying  the  evil,  the  assembly  urged 
the  adoption  of  such  measures  as  "to  secure  to  the  rising 
generation  of  slaves,  within  the  bounds  of  the  church,  a 
religious  education."  It  also  emphatically  condemned  the 
"selling  and  buying  of  slaves  by  way  of  traffic,  as  incon- 
sistent with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel."  It  likewise  con- 
demned all  undue  severity  in  the  management  of  the 
slaves,  and  in  addition  recommended  the  Presbyteries 
and  sessions  "to  use  all  prudent  measures  to  prevent  such 
shameful  and  uprighteous  conduct." 

Deliverance  on  Slavery. — To  preserve  the  connection, 
we  give  an  account  of  the  action  of  the  assembly  on  the 
same  subject,  three  years  later  (1818).  It  came  up  in  a 
new  phase ;  a  member  of  the  church  had  sold  a  slave,  who 
was  also  a  member  of  the  church,  and  who  was  unwilling 
to  be  sold.  The  assembly  made  a  somewhat  lengthy  de- 
liverance on  the  general  subject  of  slavery,  concluding  as 
follows :  "It  is  manifestly  the  duty  of  all  Christians  who 
enjoy  the  light  of  the  present  day,  to  use  their  honest, 
earnest,  and  unwearied  endeavors  to  correct  the  errors  of 
former  times,  and  as  speedily  as  possible  to  efface  this 
blot  on  our  holy  religion,  and  to  obtain  the  complete  abo- 
lition of  slavery  throughout  Christendom,  and  if  possible 
throughout  the  world."  {Minutes  of  that  year.)  At 
the  same  time  the  assembly  expressed  its  deep  sympathy 
for  those  members  of  the  church  upon  whom  had  been  en- 
tailed the  evils  of  human  bondage,  "wherein  a  great  and 
most  virtuous  part  of  the  community  abhor  slavery  and 
wish  its  extermination  as  sincerely  as  any  others,"    EverV 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  271 

afterward,  when  the  subject  came  up,  the  assembly  was 
true  to  the  principles  thus  announced. 

Francis  Herron. — Among  the  prominent  ministers  of 
this  period  was  Francis  Herron,  a  Pennsylvanian  by  birth, 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  a  graduate  of  Dickinson  College 
(1794)  under  Dr.  Charles  Nisbet's  presidency,  and  a 
licentiate  of  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle  (1797).  He  en- 
tered at  once  upon  his  work,  first  as  a  missionary  beyond 
the  mountains;  on  his  journey  he  spent  a  Sabbath  at  a 
settlement  where  Wilkinsburg  now  stands,  and  preached 
under  the  shade  of  a  tree.  He  did  not  linger,  but  passed 
en  through  a  little  town  called  Pittsburg,  toward  the 
frontier,  having  a  settler  for  a  guide  in  the  wilderness. 
On  the  way  he  spent  a  while  among  the  Indians,  who 
were  encamped  in  the  vicinity  of  Marietta.  After  spend- 
ing some  time  as  a  missionary,  he  returned  East,  and  on 
his  way  back  he  stopped  at  Pittsburg.  The  proprietor  of 
the  tavern  at  which  he  put  up  happened  to  be  an  ac- 
quaintance from  his  native  place,  Shippensburg.  The  latter 
asked  him  to  preach,  and  Mr.  Herron  consented.  Word 
was  sent  around,  and  a  congregation  numbering  eighteen 
assembled  to  hear  the  sermon.  The  meeting  was  held  in 
a  rude  log  cabin,  in  which  swallows  having  their  nests 
flew  out  and  in  during  the  service.  On  the  site  of  that 
log  cabin  afterward  stood  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Pittsburg,  of  which  Dr.  Herron  was  pastor  nearly  fifty 
years. 

After  a  successful  pastorate  of  ten  years  in  the  East,  Dr. 
Herron  was  invited  to  Pittsburg  ( 1810) .  He  accepted  the 
call.  On  entering  upon  his  pastoral  duties  he  was  con- 
fronted with  an  unprecedented  coldness  on  the  part  of  the 
members  of  the  church  in  respect  to  their  Christian  duties. 
An  incident  illustrates  the  prevailing  religious  sentiment. 
Dr.  Herron  proposed  to  hold  prayer-meetings;  but  the 
proposition  met  with  little  favor.    The  first  meeting  was 


272         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

held  in  a  school-room  belonging  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hunt, 
who  was  a  teacher,  but  occasionally  preached.  At  the 
first  meeting  were  the  two  mininsters,  one  layman,  and  six 
women,  and  for  a  year  and  a  half  the  number  was  not 
materially  increased.  At  length  the  opposition  took  a 
more  pronounced  form,  inasmuch  as  some  men  forbid  the 
attendance  of  their  wives  and  daughters,  and  finally  Dr. 
Herron  was  told  that  such  meeting  must  be  discontinued. 
The  reply  was  prompt  and  decisive:  "Gentlemen,  these 
meetings  will  not  stop;  you  are  at  liberty  to  do  as  you 
please,  and  I  also  have  liberty  to  worship  God  according 
to  the  dictates  of  my  own  conscience,  none  daring  to 
molest  or  make  me  afraid.''  The  prayer-meetings  con- 
tinued, and  soon  an  unusual  interest  in  religion  became 
manifest,  revivals  followed,  and  numbers  were  converted 
from  the  world,  some  of  whom  were  the  leading  members 
of  the  society  of  the  city.  During  his  long  pas- 
torate the  church  prospered  and  became  a  great  power 
for  good  in  the  city,  which,  in  the  meantime, 
greatly  advanced  in  population  and  proportionately  in  its 
material  prosperity.  Dr.  Herron  was  an  ever  warm 
sympathizer  in  all  measures  for  the  promotion  of  educa- 
tion, of  temperance,  and  the  good  morals  of  the  com- 
munity at  large.  "During  his  long  pastorate  he  was  a 
power  in  the  city,  beloved  of  his  people,  and  influential  in 
the  church.  *  *  *  One  such  life  is  an  infallible  proof 
of  the  gospel,  and  puts  infidelity  to  confusion."  He  was 
a  prominent  and  influential  advocate  of  the  founding  of 
the  Western  Theological  Seminary,  to  sustain  which  he 
ever  earnestly  labored.  Owing  to  the  infirmities  of  age 
he  resigned  his  pastorate  at  the  age  of  seventy-six;  the 
Master  called  him  home  in  his  eighty-sixth  year.  With 
the  continued  material  progress  of  the  city  other  Presby- 
terian churches  were  established.  The  Second — which 
had  languished  for  a  number  of  years — ^became  a  power 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  273 

for  good  under  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Elisha  P.  Swift 
(1819-1835),  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  professorship 
in  the  seminary 

Other  Presbyterians. — This  region,  of  which  Pittsburg 
may  be  deemed  a  center,  from  the  earliest  settlements 
within  its  bounds,  was  a  favorite  with  Presbyterians  of 
different  orders.  These  all  strictly  held  the  same  church 
policy,  but  differed  on  some  points  of  opinion  or  doctrine 
which  to  the  outside  world  appear  to  be  non-essential. 
The  city  of  Pittsburg  in  the  early  part  of  this  century 
had  a  number  of  churches  belonging  to  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  and  the  Associate  Reformed,  etc.  Here  one 
of  these  bodies  established  a  Theological  Seminary.  The 
leading  pastors  of  these  churches  were  Drs.  Black  and 
Bruce. 

Revivals  in  the  South. — In  addition  to  the  revivals  in 
Kentucky  and  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  which  have  been 
afready  noticed,  were  many  instances  of  the  special  out- 
pouring of  the  spirit  in  other  portions  of  the  country, 
almost  contemporary  with  the  former  or  in  the  immedi- 
ately succeeding  years.  These  later  revivals  were  prin- 
cipally in  the  Carolinas  and  in  Georgia  and  in 
the  western  portions  of  Virginia.  They  had  to 
contend  with  a  phase  of  infidelity,  though  not 
quite  so  political  or  pronounced  and  blatant  as 
that  which  obstructed  the  work  in  Kentucky.  It  was  a 
deism  derived  from  the  writings  of  Hume,  Voltaire,  and 
Paine.  A  similar  influence  that  affected  the  physical 
system  of  the  convicted  in  Kentucky  was,  to  a  limited 
extent,  also  experienced  here.  These  abnormal  exercises 
elicited  much  adverse  criticism,  and  a  number  of  Presby- 
terian clergymen  came,  some  many  miles,  to  witness  these 
unusual  scenes.  Among  whom  was  Dr.  Moses  Hoge  of 
Virginia,  who  was  one  of  the  most  judicious  and  conserva- 
tive men  of  the  time,  and  who  made  himself  familiar  with 


2  74         ^    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  experience  of  many  of  the  converts.  His  prejudices 
vanished,  and  though  he  did  not  see  the  order  and  pro- 
priety that  he  wished,  he  deemed  the  work  "very  extraor- 
dinary," and  expressed  his  conviction  that  it  was  "a 
work  of  God,"  and  "was  satisfied  that  he  had  before  him 
the  evidence  of  the  operation  of  Divine  truth  and  of  the 
Spirit  of  God." 

During  the  first  twenty  years  of  this  century,  owing  to 
poHtical  disturbances,  the  advance  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  number  of  its  communicants,  was  not  very 
rapid,  yet  the  latter  increased  forty  per  cent,  while  the 
increase  of  the  general  population  was  only  twenty  per 
cent.  During  the  same  period  there  were,  comparatively, 
isolated  revivals  in  New  Jersey  and  in  Central  and  West- 
ern New  York.  Scarcely  was  there  a  Presbytery  that  did 
not  report:  "The  triumphs  of  evangelical  truth  and  the 
power  of  sovereign  grace."  The  assemblies  of  the  years 
1802  and  '03  took  cognizance  of  these  times  of  spiritual 
refreshings,  and  in  gratitude  to  God  made  mention  of  "the 
very  extraordinary  success  of  the  gospel"  in  many  places. 
These,  so  to  speak,  isolated  revivals  continued  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  were  thankfully  recognized  by  the 
assemblies  from  time  to  time,  but  the  War  of  1812  sadly 
interfered  with  the  general  progress  of  vital  piety  in  all 
the  denominations,  and  of  this  deleterious  influence  the 
Presbyterian  was  by  no  means  exempt. 

Progress  in  Religion,  How  Promoted. — The  progress 
of  religion  in  both  the  Carolinas  and  in  Georgia  was 
greatly  promoted  by  the  labors  of  the  noble  corps  of  Pres- 
byterian ministers  resident  in  that  section  of  the  land; 
they  were  also  greatly  aided  by  a  few  finely  educated 
ministers  who  migrated  thither  from  the  North.  The 
oversight  of  the  churches  in  these  three  States  was,  vir- 
tually, in  the  hands  of  the  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  rather 
than  in  the  control  of  the  General  Assembly,  since  the  lat- 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH,  275 

ter  body  could  give  but  little  aid,  as  it  was  overwhelmed 
with  calls  for  ministers  further  west  and  southwest,  which 
came  most  urgently  especially  from  the  Synod  of  Ken- 
tucky. The  Synod  of  the  Carolinas  was,  how- 
ever, nobly  sustained  not  only  by  the  pastors  but 
by  the  people  —  the  church  members  themselves — 
in  their  zeal  for  the  cause  of  religion  and  that  of 
education.  Thus  they  labored  on  and  became  more 
and  more  self-reliant  and  as  a  result  the  churches  were 
imbued  with  Presbyterian  sentiments.  The  latter  phase 
was  not  in  consequence  of  outside  influence,  since  into  that 
section  comparatively  few  Presbyterian  families  and 
church  members  removed  from  the  Eastern  and  Middle 
States;  for  obvious  reasons  the  tide  of  migration  of 
families  from  the  latter  was  much  larger  toward  the  West 
beyond  the  mountains  than  toward  the  South  on  the  Atlan- 
tic slope.  The  Congregationalists  who  happened  to  come 
fell  in  with  the  Presbyterians,  and  so,  usually,  did  the 
Huguenots  and  their  descendants.  This  may  partially 
account  for  the  uniformity  in  the  Presbyterian  influence 
in  all  that  region.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  there 
has  been  less  discrepancies  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Bible  and  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  in  the  southern  por- 
tion of  the  church  than  in  the  northern.  There  was  less 
of  critical  Biblical  scholarship  in  the  South  than  in  the 
North ;  and  less  material  progress  owing  to  the  inefficiency 
of  slave  labor.  The  people  moved  along  in  the  even  tenor 
of  their  way,  without  being  much  affected  by  outside  in- 
fluences emanating  from  other  portions  of  their  own 
land,  or  from  Europe,  in  the  form  of  immigration,  because 
of  the  existing  slavery ;  neither  were  they  to  much  extent 
affected  by  the  stimulus  of  commerce,  nor  in  the  religious 
world  by  theological  discussions. 

The  church  members,  however,  did  not  cease  to  follow 
the  traditions  of  their  fathers  in  relation  to  an  educated 


276         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

ministry,  and  that  spirit  pervaded  the  whole  region,  and 
numbers  of  the  best  educated  pastors  had  each  a  few  pupils 
whom  they  instructed  in  the  classics,  in  Hebrew,  in  Greek, 
and  in  theology.  In  this  manner  these  worthies  labored 
incessantly  to  secure  an  educated  ministry,  and  in  due 
time  theological  seminaries  were  established. 

The  Migration  of  a  Church. — A  Congregational  church 
and  its  pastor  migrated  from  Dorchester,  Mass.,  in  1695, 
to  South  Carolina,  "with  a  desire  to  encourage  the  settle- 
ment of  churches  and  the  promotion  of  religion  in  the 
Southern  plantations."  They  located  on  the  Ashley  river, 
eighteen  miles  above  Charleston,  and  named  the  place 
after  their  former  home.  Fifty-seven  years  afterward,  for 
sufficient  reasons,  the  church  members  moved  in  a  body, 
their  pastor,  John  Osgood,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  accom- 
panying them,  and  made  a  new  settlement  at  a  place 
named  Midway,  because  of  its  position  between  the 
Ogechee  and  Altamaha  rivers.  Here  upon  lands  granted 
them  by  the  Georgia  colonial  authorities  they  began  their 
new  home  in  1754,  but  in  1778  their  house  of  worship  and 
nearly  all  their  rude  private  dwellings  were  burned  by 
the  British  soldiers  under  the  command  of  General  Pro- 
vost. The  members  of  the  church  and  society  were  scat- 
tered, but  after  the  close  of  the  war  they  returned  and 
repaired  their  desolate  homes.  They  erected  a  log  church 
and  true  to  their  instincts  they  also  founded  an  academy. 

Afterward,  in  *S^  the  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes,  from  Bos- 
ton, was  their  pastor.  He  was  the  father  of  the  late  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  and  author  of  American  Annals. 
Jedediah  Morse  succeeded  Mr.  Holmes  in  1786.  The 
latter  was  the  author  of  the  first  complete  American 
geography.  This  church  united  finally  with  the  Presby- 
terian, and  had  a  number  of  pastors  under  whose  charge 
it  did  good  service  in  furnishing  a  number  of  Presbyterian 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  277 

ministers  for  the  churches  in  that  region,  among  whom 
was  Daniel  Baker,  the  famed  evangelist. 

There  was  in  this  entire  region  during  the  period  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  commencing  in  1790  a  noble 
band  of  earnest  and  self-denying  Presbyterian  ministers, 
concerning  whose  labors  we  cannot  go  into  detail,  but 
whose  memories  are  embalmed  in  the  reminiscences  of 
the  direct  descendants  of  those  to  whom  they  ministered, 
and  in  the  dusty  records  of  their  respective  presbyteries; 
such  as  the  names  of  Thomas  Cummings,  Thomas  Gould- 
irig,  William  Whirr,  John  Brown,  famed  as  the  President 
of  the  State  University  at  Chapel  Hill — a  model  teacher, 
loving  and  beloved  by  his  pupils.  To  these  may  be  added 
the  brothers  Caldwell,  Joseph  and  Andrew,  John  Mcln- 
tyre,  Allen  McDougal,  and  many  others. 

Prayer-meetings. — An  outgrowth  of  the  revivals  just 
mentioned  was  the  formation  of  a  "praying  society,"  an 
innovation  upon  the  usual  routine  of  indifference  that  pre- 
vailed among  the  churches.  At  first  very  few  of  the 
church  members  could  be  induced  to  take  part  in  these 
social  prayer-meetings  or  even  attend  them,  but  ere  long 
a  spirit  of  prayer  manifested  itself  and  the  attendance 
began  to  increase  greatly.  In  consequence,  a  series  of 
meetings  for  prayer  and  preaching  was  commenced,  to 
which  came  the  people  in  crowds  and  in  a  spirit  of  de- 
votion. The  preaching  was  a  practical  presentation  of 
gospel  truth,  and  no  undue  effort  was  made  to  excite  the 
emotions  of  the  audiences.  Decorum  and  good  order  pre- 
vailed, no  sensational  or  unscriptural  expressions  were 
heard,  yet  in  more  than  one  instance  numbers  were 
stricken  down  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  which  had  oc- 
curred in  Kentucky. 

Union  Meetings. — This  spiritual  interest  prevailed  to 
such  an  extent  that  Christians  of  other  denominations 
were  drawn  more  closely  together,  and  what  was  unusual 


278         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

at  that  time,  union  meetings  were  held,  at  which  thousands 
often  attended.  Several  Methodist  and  Baptist  clergymen 
took  part  in  these  exercises,  though  the  greater  number  of 
preachers  were  Presbyterian.  Here  were  converts  in  great 
numbers  and  of  all  ages,  from  children  of  ten  years  to 
persons  of  seventy.  The  influence  of  these  meetings  ex- 
tended for  numerous  miles  in  every  direction,  since  the 
converts,  on  returning  to  their  homes,  carried  with  them 
a  spirit  of  prayer,  and  an  aggressive  religion  that  influ- 
enced their  neighbors,  and  thus  the  work  went  on  for  a 
number  of  years.  The  infidelity  and  scepticism,  once  so 
prevalent,  disappeared.  Among  those  brought  to  Christ 
during  these  years  were  a  number  of  young  men  who 
afterward  devoted  themselves  to  the  ministry. 

There  was  no  portion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  during 
the  period  from  1790  to  1825  in  which  was  manifested 
more  genuine  zeal  for  the  gospel  than  in  the  Carol inas, 
Southwestern  Virginia,  Georgia,  and  East  Tennessee.  The 
people  had  very  few  facilities  for  the  accumulation  of 
wealth ;  as  best  they  could  they  met  from  year  to  year  the 
ever-recurring  expenses  of  their  families.  They  depended 
upon  themselves  alone  for  their  household  comforts  of 
plain  food  and  clothing  of  domestic  manufacture.  Only 
in  a  few  districts  had  they  facilities  by  being  within  reach 
of  the  ocean  for  exchanging  their  lumber,  tar,  and  turpen- 
tine for  comforts,  to  them  luxuries,  obtained  from  the  out- 
side world.  Yet,  if  we  take  into  consideration  these  ma- 
terial disadvantages,  the  amounts  they  gave  to  sustain 
the  institutions  of  the  gospel  were  in  proportion  as  great 
as  in  any  other  part  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Drs.  James  Hall  and  S.  E.  McCorkle. — We  have 
scarcely  room  to  merely  notice  two  worthies,  who  labored 
in  this  Presbyterian  field — Drs.  James  Hall  and  Samuel 
Eusebias  McCorkle.  The  former  was  licensed  by  the 
Presbvtery  of  Orange,  and  was  afterward  pastor  for  forty 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  279 

years  at  Bethany,  North  Carolina.  His  ministry  is  de- 
scribed as  "a  glowing  scene  of  untiring  activity  and  earn- 
est zeal  to  win  souls  to  Christ."  At  one  communion  he 
admitted  eighty  from  the  world  and  at  another  sixty. 
He  was  a  native  of  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  and  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent.  At  an  early  age  his  parents  removed  to 
North  Carolina,  and  he  was  brought  within  the  bounds  of 
the  congregation  which  he  afterward  served  as  pastor  for 
so  many  years.  He  graduated  at  Princeton  in  1774,  under 
the  presidency  of  Dr.  John  Witherspoon.  He  refused  the 
office  of  tutor,  as  he  wished  to  devote  himself  entirely  to 
preaching  the  gospel.  He  was  accustomed  to  travel  at 
certain  seasons  on  missionary  tours  in  the  country  round 
about,  and  revival  after  revival  followed  his  labors,  but 
none  of  which  were  more  powerful  than  those  within  the 
bounds  of  his  own  congregation.  He  was  not  deaf  to  the 
calls  of  his  country,  and  in  consequence  at  one  time  he 
was  an  officer  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution.  His  elo- 
quence inspired  his  men,  many  of  whom  were  from  his 
own  congregation,  to  repel  Cornwallis  in  one  of  his  raids. 
Dr.  Hall  was  offered  the  commission  of  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral, but  he  declined  the  honor. 

Dr.  Samuel  Eusebias  McCorkle  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, but  his  parents  removed  to  North  Carolina,  when 
he  was  a  child.  He  graduated  at  Princeton  (1772)  in  the 
same  class  with  Dr.  John  McMillan.  Licensed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York,  he  was  commissioned  to  labor  in 
the  South,  under  the  direction  of  the  Presbytery  of  Han- 
over and  Orange.  After  preaching  two  years  as  mis- 
sionary, he  was  settled  over  a  church,  Thyatira,  N.  C, 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbytery  of  Concord.  Here  he 
labored  for  thirty-five  years  as  a  preacher,  and  also  as  the 
principal  of  a  classical  school  named  Zion  Parnassus.  His 
influence  was  greatly  extended  through  his  numerous  stu- 
dents, not  only  in  the  church  but  in  the  world  outside. 


XXIX. 

Progress  of  the  Church  Continued. 

An  increased  interest  in  religious  affairs  became  mani- 
fest in  Maryland  in  1799,  especially  in  Baltimore  and  in 
the  churches  in  that  vicinity.  Though  these  churches 
were  nominally  Presbyterian,  there  appears  to  have  been 
no  effort  to  organize  them  in  accordance  with  the  polity 
of  that  denomination.  Means  were  taken  in  1802  to 
remedy  this  defect  by  electing  representative  men  as 
elders. 

Drs.  Inglis  and  Nevins. — About  the  commencement  of 
the  century  Rev.  James  Inglis,  of  Scotch  descent,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Columbia  College,  New  York  City,  a  student  of  law 
under  the  famed  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  afterward  of  the- 
ology under  the  direction  of  Dr.  John  Rodgers  of  the  Brick 
Church,  in  the  same  city,  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York.  Soon  afterward  he  was  called  to  the  pas- 
torate of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Baltimore, 
where  he  remained  eighteen  years  as  a  successful  and  la- 
borious pastor.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  ease  of  man- 
ner in  the  pulpit,  combined  with  a  gracefulness  of  style 
and  flow  of  finished  oratory,  but  which  did  not  betray  the 
labor  of  its  careful  preparation. 

The  work  laid  down  by  Dr.  Inglis  in  1820  was  taken  up 
by  Dr.  William  Nevins.  The  latter  was  a  native  of  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  (1816)  and  of 
Princeton  Seminary  (1819).  Within  a  few  years  his 
labors  were  crowned  with  success  in  an  extensive  revival 
whose  influence  was  felt  for  many  years  afterward  in  his 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH  CONTINUED.       261 

own  church  as  well  as  in  others  within  the  city.  This 
distinguished  man  was  an  original  thinker,  and  had  the 
aptness  of  clothmg  his  vivid  thoughts  in  graceful  and 
appropriate  language  in  the  pulpit  or  out  of  it,  and  thus 
he  became  a  recognized  power  in  the  religious  literature  of 
the  time.  In  the  midst  of  his  usefulness  he  was  taken  away 
in  his  thirty-eighth  year.  He  was  universally  lamented  by 
the  church  and  the  community  in  which  he  labored,  and 
also  in  the  outside  world. 

Religious  Interest  in  New  Jersey. — In  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  commencing  in  1802,  and  continuing  for  several 
years,  occurred  several  revivals  of  religion.  In  their  main 
feature  they  were  more  like  those  which  had  blessed 
Western  Pennsylvania  than  the  revivals  in  Kentucky  or 
in  the  Carolinas.  At  the  same  time  there  were  a  number 
of  finely  educated  and  gifted  Presbyterian  ministers  with- 
in the  State,  such  as  Drs.  Robert  Finley,  M.  L.  Perrine, 
Asa  Hillyer,  James  Richards,  Edward  D.  Griffen — the 
latter  two  of  Newark — Henry  Kollock,  and  the  venerable 
Dr.  Alexander  McWhorter,  also  of  Newark,  and  many 
other  worthy  preachers. 

On  one  occasion  a  meeting  for  religious  services  was 
held  at  Madison,  where  Dr.  Robert  Finley  was  pastor  in 
connection  with  Baskingridge.  An  immense  concourse  of 
people  assembled,  and  no  less  than  twenty-three  ministers 
from  different  portions  of  the  State  were  present.  The 
meeting  was  presided  over  by  the  venerable  Dr.  McWhor- 
ter. Because  of  the  numbers  it  was  found  necessary  to 
divide  the  multitude  into  two  assemblies,  the  one  meeting 
in  the  church  and  the  other  in  the  open-air. 

The  exercises  were  characterized  by  an  unusual  and 
deep  solemnity  and  interest.  The  preachers'  souls  ap- 
peared to  glow  with  devotion,  to  which  responded  the 
emotions  of  the  Christians  present  with  holy  fear  and 
trembling.  There  were,  also,  a  large  number  of  congrega- 
20 


282  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

tions  in  that  region  that  were  soon  after  visited  by  the 
outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Notably  was  this  the  case 
in  Newark  in  the  congregation  under  the  pastorate  of  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Griffen.  A  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was 
held,  which  was  followed  by  scenes  described  as  truly 
Pentecostal.  The  number  of  conversions  was  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty ;  they  were  of  all  ages,  from  nine  years  to 
three  score  and  ten.  Some  of  the  latter  had  been  resolute 
opposers  to  the  Christian  religion,  and  some  were  apostates 
and  some  abandoned  characters. 

Increase  of  the  Church  in  New  York. — The  Presby- 
terian church  increased  more  rapidly  in  the  central  and 
western  portions  of  the  State  of  New  York  than  in  the 
eastern.  Within  ten  years  (1800-1810)  about  fifty  new 
churches  were  organized  in  the  former  region,  and  of  this 
number  nearly  all  became  self-supporting  and  permanent, 
and  within  the  next  five  years  twenty  additional  churches 
were  organized.  In  1800  the  General  Assembly  sta- 
tioned the  Rev.  Jedediah  Chapman  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York  at  Geneva,  and  he  became  a  sort  of  missionary 
bishop  for  that  region.  In  succeeding  years  other  min- 
isters were  sent  to  aid  in  the  cause. 

Dr.  James  Carnahan. — Among  the  Presbyterian  pastors 
who  labored  in  Central  New  York  was  James  Carnahan, 
who  deserves  a  passing  notice.  He  was  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent,  born  in  1775  in  Cumberland  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, a  son  of  a  farmer,  who  left  him  an  orphan  at  the 
age  of  twelve  years.  He  at  once  entered  upon  a  struggle 
to  obtain  an  education,  his  early  years  being  spent  in  farm 
labor.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  we  find  him  beyond  the 
mountains,  entering  upon  a  preparatory  course  of  study 
at  the  Canonsburg  Academy.  When  he  was  through  his 
preparatory  studies.  Dr.  John  McMillan,  appreciating  the 
good  qualities  of  the  young  man,  loaned  him  the  means 
to  prosecute  his  studies  at  Princeton.    Carnahan  set  out  on 


■ 

i  ^'"3 

■ 

^^^1 

L     J| 

^H 

^» 

H 

^^^K'  ./, 

^1^.  W 

^ 

^^^^^Hp^ 

sH^^^^I 

I  J 

m" 

Ni* 

^^BK^fellH 

^^m 

■  ^m 

^^1 

^^Kk'^m. — 

JBH^^^  -J 

hHI 

Rev.  James  Carnahan,  D.  D.,   LL.  D. 

(282,  2S3.) 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH  CONTINUED.       283 

foot  across  the  mountains;  his  companion  was  Jacob 
Lindsley,  who,  after  many  years  of  service  in  the  church 
as  a  preacher  and  pastor,  was  professor  in  Ohio  Uni- 
versity at  Athens,  in  that  State.  Lindsley  owned  a  horse 
and  he  generously  shared  the  latter's  service  with  his 
friend  on  the  way.  One  would  ride  on  ahead  some  miles, 
then  tie  the  horse;  the  other  would  come  up  and,  mount- 
ing, ride  till  he  overtook  his  friend,  thus  reaching  the  end 
of  their  journey  of  about  three  hundred  miles. 

Carnahan  on  his  graduation  at  Princeton  (1800)  re- 
ceived the  highest  honor  of  his  class,  and  the  following 
year  was  appointed  tutor  in  the  college,  and  four  years 
later  he  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel.  His  first  pas- 
torate was  in  Utica  and  Whitesborough,  New  York,  but 
after  a  service  of  six  years  his  health  failed  and  in  con- 
sequence he  resigned  and  engaged  in  teaching  at  Prince- 
ton, and  afterward  in  Georgetown,  D.  C.  During  these 
years,  Dr.  Carnahan,  by  his  zeal  and  labor,  kept  himself 
in  touch  with  the  most  advanced  scholarship  of  the  times, 
and  yet  he  was  as  remarkable  for  his  tact  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  practical  affairs  of  men.  He  was  elected 
President  of  Princeton  College  in  1823,  succeeding  Dr. 
Ashbel  Green.  For  more  than  thirty  years  he  presided 
over  that  institution,  and  with  unusual  success;  thus  ex- 
erting in  the  Union  a  healthful  influence  in  the  promotion 
of  education  and  morals,  based  on  the  truths  of  the  Bible, 
as  exemplified  far  and  wide  in  the  lives  and  examples  of 
the  numerous  students  that  during  nearly  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury had  been  under  his  care  and  direction. 

Associations  and  Presbyteries  in  New  York  State. — 
The  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  during  this  period 
(1789-1815)  continued  to  send  preachers  to  visit  the  set- 
tlements in  Central  and  Western  New  York.  Among 
these  missionaries  occur  the  names  James  H.  Hotchkin, 
Seth  Williston,  Jedadiah  Bushnell,  David  Higgins,  who 


284         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

was  a  native  of  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  a  graduate  of 
Yale,  and  many  other  worthies.  In  1802,  Higgins  was  in- 
stalled by  a  council  of  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
ministers  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Aurelius.  Numerous 
revivals,  the  fruit  of  the  labors  of  these  devoted  mission- 
aries and  pastors,  prevailed  throughout  this  region  from 
1797  for  a  number  of  years.  These  times  of  spiritual  re- 
freshing were  followed  by  a  succession  of  new  churches 
that  were  in  due  time  organized. 

In  1803  the  "Middle  Association"  was  formed  by  the 
Congregationalists  in  what  was  termed  the  "Military 
Tract,"  in  which  lands  were  granted  to  settlers  on  liberal 
conditions.  This  area  embraced  the  counties  of  Cayuga, 
Onondaga,  Seneca,  Cortland,  and  portions  of  three 
others.  The  territory  thus  named  contained  at  this  time 
an  estimated  population  of  30,000.  This  association,  after 
an  existence  of  eight  years,  on  its  own  motion,  dissolved 
and  its  members  individually  united  with  the  presby- 
teries of  Cayuga  and  Onondaga.  According  to  its  con- 
stitution its  "ministers  and  churches  were  held  amenable 
both  as  respected  doctrine  and  practice."  In  this  rule  the 
association  partially  adopted  the  Presbyterian  policy. 

The  uniting  in  this  manner  with  the  Presbyterian  de- 
nomination by  the  members  of  this  association  disclosed  as 
a  motive  the  fact  that  among  the  intelligent  and  thought- 
ful members  of  the  Congregational  churches  there  had 
originated  a  desire  for  a  stricter  order  of  government  than 
obtained  in  their  body.  Rumors  had  reached  them  of  the 
sad  defection  toward  Unitarianism  among  their  sister 
churches  in  Massachusetts.  They  recognized  that  under 
the  Congregational  system  there  was  a  lack  of  authority 
to  enforce  church  discipline,  even  in  a  gentle  manner.  This 
feature  was  true,  especially  in  respect  to  deviations  from 
what  was  termed  the  orthodox  or  evangelical  doctrines. 
In  order  to  avoid  an  investigation  and  perhaps  consequent 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH  CONTINUED.       285 

v^ensure,  the  accused  minister  or  church  had  only  to  with- 
draw from  the  association.  In  accordance  with  the 
original  system  of  independency  as  established  in  Massa- 
chusetts (See  p.  71)  the  accused  congregation  was  free 
from  the  censure  of  sister  churches,  except  the  negative 
one,  implied  in  the  non-recognition  of  Christian  fellow- 
ship. The  latter  could  withdraw  from  the  association  and 
assume  the  name,  say,  of  the  Second  Congregational 
Church,  and  thus  retain  the  prestige  of  that  name  while 
rejecting  essential  and  characteristic  doctrines  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  This  sentiment  among  devout  Congre- 
gationalists  had  permeated  the  entire  region.  It  may  be 
on  this  ground  that  when  an  effort  was  made — June,  1810 
— to  form  a  State  (Congregational)  association,  the  plan 
failed,  because  of  the  great  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the 
expediency  of  the  attempt,  since  some  of  the  associations 
did  not  send  delegates.  The  following  year,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Middle  Association  dissolved  itself.  The  out- 
come was  a  preference  for  a  union  in  some  manner  with 
the  Presbyterian  mode  of  church  polity,  that  ecclesiastical 
order  might  be  maintained. 

Religion  West  of  the  Genesee — Mr.  Allen. — A  partial 
idea  of  the  condition  of  society  at  this  time  in  the  territory 
west  of  the  Genesee  river  may  be  obtained  from  the  notes 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Allen,  who  was  afterward  the 
honored  President  of  Bowdoin  College.  Beginning  in 
1804  as  a  -missionary,  he  traversed  this  entire  region  on 
horseback,  even  to  Niagara  Falls,  preaching  as  oppor- 
tunity served,  in  the  scattered  settlements.  He  afterward 
published  a  brief  but  stirring  "plea  for  the  Genesee  coun- 
tr}'."  There  were  at  that  time  only  twelve  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  ministers  in  the  region  east  of  the 
Genesee,  while  "west  of  that  river  to  Lake  Erie,  and  from 
Lake  Ontario  to  the  Pennsylvania  line  there  was  no  meet- 
ing-house, no  settled  minister  nor  missionary,  except  Mr. 


286         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH, 

Allen."  The  agent  of  the  Holland  Land  Company — 
Joseph  Ellicott — was,  in  his  way,  the  most  influential 
man  in  the  section  of  the  country  west  of  the  Genesee.  He 
was  a  notorious  infidel,  after  the  then  fashionable  French 
type  as  represented  by  Voltaire,  Volney,  and  Paine.  A  club 
whose  members  professed  these  sentiments,  was  formed 
and  exerted  its  legitimate  influence,  and  as  a  result  the 
Sabbath  was  virtually  ignored,  and  systematic  efforts 
were  made  through  the  club  to  oppose  Christianity  and  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  passed  into  a  proverb  "that  Sunday 
could  not  find  its  way  west  of  the  Genesee."  A  narrative 
of  the  state  of  religion  in  1811,  as  found  in  the  report  of 
missionaries,  ventures  the  opinion  that  the  country  bor- 
dering on  Lake  Erie  was  "among  the  most  destitute  in  the 
United  States."  To  this  sad  story  may  be  added  that  of 
the  Rev.  R.  Phelps:  "In  many  of  the  settlements  the  state 
of  society  is  truly  deplorable.  Scarcely  is  the  form  of  god- 
liness visible.  The  Sabbath  is  awfully  profaned,  and  God's 
name  is  dishonored  in  various  ways.  Infidelity  abounds  to 
an  alarming  degree,  and  in  various  shapes." 

Immigration  Cooperation. — The  tide  of  immigration 
continued,  and  with  increasing  volume,  to  pour  into  the 
central  portion  of  the  State;  that  is,  up  the  valley  of  the 
Mohawk  and  in  the  lake  region.  Meanwhile  the  church  or- 
ganizations increased,  but  in  a  less  proportion.  The  several 
missionary  societies,  as  far  as  they  were  able,  sent  min- 
isters and  licentiates  to  supply  the  religious  wants  of  the 
people.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  settled  pastors  to  devote 
a  portion  of  their  time  in  preaching  tours  among  the  more 
destitute  churches  and  settlements. 

The  presbyteries  frequently  designated  the  portions  of 
the  country  to  be  visited,  and  the  preachers  for  that  ser- 
vice. In  this  evangelist  work  the  Congregationalists  and 
Presbyterians  labored  in  unison. 

The  General  Assembly  gave  its  unqualified  sanction  to 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH  CONTINUED.       287 

this  cooperation  in  evangelical  work,  but  it  was  found  more 
advantageous  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause  to  depute  its 
management  largely  to  the  synods  and  presbyteries,  with- 
in whose  bounds  the  missionary  labor  was  to  be  done.  As 
the  entire  church  was  interested,  the  assembly  took  mea- 
sures to  secure  a  certain  amount  of  supervision  by  means 
of  the  annual  reports  of  its  standing  committees.  In  ac- 
cordance with  this  arrangement  the  portion  of  the  country 
known  as  Northern  Pennsylvania,  Western  and  Central 
New  York,  came  under  the  care  of  the  Synods  of  Pitts- 
burg, Geneva,  and  Albany. 

In  181 1  the  Ontario  Association,  following  the  example 
of  the  Middle,  dissolved  itself,  and  its  churches  and  min- 
isters united  with  the  Presbytery  of  Geneva.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  boundaries  of  these  several  presbyteries  and 
associations  overlapped  one  another,  and  as  they  were 
prosecuting  the  same  work  it  was  evident  the  latter  could 
be  more  effectively  accomplished  under  the  control  of 
one  organization  than  of  two  or  three.  From  this  time 
forward  for  a  number  of  years,  there  is  no  record  of  which 
we  are  aware  of  any  Congregational  association  being 
formed  in  the  State  of  New  York. 


XXX. 

Settlements  and  Churches  in  the  West. 

The  Settlement  of  Marietta. — As  early  as  1785  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  commissioned  a  Mr.  Hutchins  to  sur- 
vey the  territory  a  portion  of  which  afterward  was  in- 
cluded within  the  bounds  of  the  present  State  of  Ohio. 
The  institutions  of  the  church  were  introduced  into  that 
region  when  the  settlement  was  made  at  Marietta  on  the 
Ohio  river.  This  site  was  selected  from  others  that  were 
almost  equally  attractive.  The  visitors  to  that  wilderness 
brought  back  glowing,  but  in  the  main  fair,  descriptions 
of  the  fertile  soil  which,  when  compared  with  that  of  New 
England,  was  apparently  inexhaustible.  They  told  of  the 
great  beauty  of  the  scenery  along  the  rivers ;  of  the  mag- 
nificent forests  of  stately  sugar-trees,  whose  product  was 
so  necessary  to  the  comfort  of  the  household;  the  great 
oaks  and  the  large  black-walnut  trees,  and  many  other 
varieties  of  useful  woods ;  the  immense  vines  climbing  the 
trees  and  loaded  with  clusters  of  grapes,  while  the  open 
spaces,  where  the  sunshine  could  reach  the  ground, 
bloomed  with  white-clover  and  other  grasses,  and  all 
cheered  by  an  abundance  of  brooks  fed  by  perennial 
springs  of  crystal  water,  and  in  addition  to  these  were 
found  iron  ore,  coal,  and  salt.  No  wonder  the  younger 
portion  of  the  people,  especially,  were  eager  to  migrate  to 
such  a  land. 

Several  bands  from  the  East,  mostly  from  New  Eng- 
land, pressed  on  to  inherit  this  land  of  promise.  Between 
February  and  June,  1788 — the  year  in  which  the  Constitu- 


SETTLEMENTS   AND   CHURCHES   IN   THE   WEST.  289 

tion  of  the  United  States  was  adopted — 4,500  persons 
passed  on  their  way  by  Fort  Harmer,  according  to  the 
report  of  the  officer  in  command.  One  of  these  migrating 
companies  set  out  from  Danvers,  Mass.,  in  December, 
1787,  and  in  January,  1788,  one  from  Hartford,  Conn. 
They  had  the  canvas  coverings  of  their  wagons  labeled : 
"To  Alarietta  on  the  Ohio."  They  passed  through  the 
intervening  States  and  reached  the  east  end  of  the  famous 
Braddock  military  road  at  Wills  Creek,  now  Cumberland, 
Maryland,  and  passed  on  it  over  the  mountains.  On  the 
west  side,  for  some  unknown  reason,  instead  of  taking  the 
nearer  route  down  Redstone  creek  to  the  Monongahela, 
they  went  down  the  Youghiogheny  to  where  the  village 
of  West  Newton  now  stands.  Thence  in  a  crude  flat- 
boat  which  they  built,  they  floated  to  the  Monongahela 
and  on  to  the  Ohio^  and  then  down  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Muskingum,  and  landed  on  April  7,  1788,  where  Marietta 
now  stands.  The  number  of  persons  who  arrived  safely 
was  only  forty-seven  instead  of  the  one  hundred  who  at 
first  designed  to  be  of  the  party,  but  numbers  of  the  latter 
joined  the  colony  in  after  years. 

The  plan  for  the  migration  was  devised  by  Gen.  Tup- 
per,  who  had  been  an  assistant  of  Surveyor  Hutchins,  and 
also  an  officer  in  the  Revolution.  He  was  greatly  aided  in 
the  enterprise  by  Rev.  Dr.  Manassah  Cutler  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  a  number  of  other  prominent  gentlemen.  Con- 
gress gave  substantial  aid  in  granting  lands  on  liberal 
terms.  George  Washington  commended  the  movement 
highly,  saying :  "I  know  many  of  the  settlers  personally ; 
and  there  never  were  men  better  calculated  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  such  a  community." 

The  progress  of  the  first  year  of  the  settlement  was  very 
satisfactory,  but  soon  after  the  settlers  began  to  be  an- 
noyed in  various  ways  by  hostile  Indians,  such  as  stealing 
horses  and  capturing  and  plundering  unprotected  flat- 


290         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

boats  loaded  with  needed  supplies.  These  depredations 
continued  till  August,  1794,  when  Gen.  Wayne's  over- 
whelming victory  dispersed  their  savage  enemies.  {Four 
Hundred  Years,  etc.,  p.  680.) 

Story,  Lindsley,  Hughes. — The  first  minister  we  have 
note  of  in  this  connection  was  Rev.  Daniel  Story,  a  native 
of  Boston  and  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  (1780), 
who  nine  years  afterward  began  to  preach  in  Marietta,  and 
also  in  two  other  places  in  the  vicinity — Waterford  and 
Belpre.  At  Marietta,  in  the  winter,  the  block-house  was 
used  as  a  place  of  worship,  and  in  the  summer  services 
were  held  under  the  shade  of  immense  forest  trees.  No 
church  was  organized  at  Marietta  till  1796;  about  that  time 
came  missionaries  who  were  sent  by  the  Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg. Rev.  Stephen  Lindsley,  a  licentiate  of  the  Presby- 
tery of  Ohio,  began  his  labors  as  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian 
congregation  in  1803;  three  years  later  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Prince  Robbins  from  Connecticut,  also  entered  upon  his 
duties  as  pastor  of  the  original  church  of  Marietta — the 
presumption  is  it  was  Congregational. 

It  is  stated  that  the  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Hughes  was  the 
first  permanently  settled  pastor  north  of  the  Ohio.  He 
was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  (1797),  and  studied  theology 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  John  McMillan,  and  was  li- 
censed to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio. 

Immigrants  were  rapidly  flowing  into  these  regions, 
and  new  settlements  were  forming  from  time  to  time, 
especially  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  State,  as  that 
section  was  more  easily  reached  by  water  than  was  the 
interior  by  land. 

Cincinnati  Founded. — The  fertile  soil  of  the  territory 
between  the  two  Miamis  had  attracted  much  attention, 
since  Daniel  Boone,  when  a  captive  (1778)  among  the 
Shawnees  Indians,  who  lived  in  that  region,  made  the  fact 
known  on  his  return  home.     The  Hon.  Cleves  Symmes, 


SETTLEMENTS   AND    CHURCHES    IN    THE   WEST.  29 1 

in  order  to  verify  the  truths  of  these  accounts  of  the  rich- 
ness and  beauty  of  the  territory,  made  a  personal  visit  for 
investigation. 

Symmes  had  been  a  member  of  Congress  from  a  district 
in  New  Jersey.  He  now  projected  a  settlement  in  that 
region.  A  company  of  thirty  persons  through  his  influ- 
ence was  induced  to  migrate  thither  (July,  1788).  They 
went  by  land  and  were  fully  equipped  to  begin  a  settle- 
ment. They  had  four  wagons,  each  drawn  by  four  horses. 
They  reached  their  destination  in  about  six  months,  and 
laid  the  foundation  for  the  city  of  Cincinnati  (December 
28,  1788),  by  forming  a  settlement  on  its  site.  Shortly 
after  the  colony  had  an  accession  of  fourteen  persons. 
They  all  went  to  work  in  the  primitive  forest,  and  built  a 
few  log  cabins,  and  block-houses  as  a  protection  against 
hostile  Indians.  In  a  year's  time  the  population  was 
"eleven  families  and  twenty-four  bachelors."  This  was  in 
addition  to  the  United  States  garrison  which  had  been 
sent  to  guard  the  infant  settlement.  Troublous  times 
were  caused  by  hostile  Indians,  and  it  was  not  till  after 
Gen.  Wayne's  victory  that  the  residents  felt  secure  from 
their  savage  enemies. 

Several  settlements  meantime  were  made  in  the  sur- 
rounding country,  but  they  were  greatly  hampered  in  their 
progress  for  a  number  of  years  by  the  continued  fear  of 
attacks  from  the  Indians.  For  this  reason  immigration 
almost  ceased  till  the  power  of  the  latter  was  broken; 
after  which  event  the  settlers  had  peace  and  continued 
prosperity. 

The  First  Church  Organized. — In  laying  out  the  town 
in  1789,  the  settlers,  a  majority  of  whom  were  from  New 
Jersey,  and  presumably  Presbyterians,  designated  certain 
lots  for  a  church  building  and  school-house.  The  follow- 
ing year  "Father"  Rice  of  Kentucky  organized  a  church 
which  afterward  was  known  as  the  First  Presbyterian 


292  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Church  of  Cincinnati.  The  congregation  took  formal  posses- 
sion of  the  premises  thus  set  apart  for  religious  purposes, 
but  for  a  long  time  they  were  unable,  for  lack  of  means, 
to  erect  a  suitable  church  building.  They  usually  met 
for  worship  in  a  horse-mill,  and  in  private  houses,  till  they 
were  able  to  build.  The  Rev.  James  Kemper,  of  the 
Synod  of  Kentucky,  came  in  1791  to  minister  to  them, 
and  so  great  was  the  joy  in  the  prospect  of  having  a  set- 
tled pastor  that  a  large  number  of  the  church  members 
volunteered  to  escort  him  from  Kentucky  across  the  river 
to  his  new  charge.  A  subscription  was  at  once  commenced 
to  raise  funds  to  build  a  church  edifice.  Meanwhile,  the 
weather  permitting,  the  people  met  for  worship  in  the  open 
air,  on  the  designated  lots,  after  having  cleared  a  suffi- 
cient space  from  the  native  forest.  They  sat  upon  rude 
logs,  hewn  smooth  on  one  side,  each  man  having  his 
trusty  rifle  by  his  side.  The  following  year  a  church 
building  was  finished,  and  the  four  lots  originally  dedi- 
cated for  religious  purposes  were  enclosed;  they  were 
on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Fourth  streets. 

After  Mr.  Kemper  left  (1795)  the  church  then  had  a 
membership  of  226,  in  which  were  included  the  names  of 
the  baptized  children,  who  were  regarded  as  subjects  of 
discipline.  It  had  no  settled  minister  till  1808,  when 
Joshua  L.  Wilson  became  its  pastor.  He  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  but  removed  with  the  family  to  Kentucky.  He 
was  licensed  to  preach  in  1802,  and  two  years  afterward 
we  find  him  pastor  of  two  Presbyterian  churches,  one  at 
Bardstown  and  the  other  at  Big  Spring,  Kentucky ;  from 
the  latter  he  was  called  to  Cincinnati  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  which  he  faithfully  served  for 
thirty-eight  years.  About  this  time  the  town — in  modern 
phrase  having  a  boom — began  to  increase  very  rapidly  in 
population  and  in  general  prosperity,  while  the  churches 
grew  in  proportion. 


SETTLEMENTS    AND    CHURCHES    IN    THE   WEST.  293 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  early  settlements  in  the  State 
of  Ohio  were  on  its  southern  border  along  the  river  of 
the  same  name,  and  afterward  they  extended  gradually 
toward  the  north,  the  pioneers  being  attracted  by  the  fer- 
tility of  the  valleys  of  the  tributaries  of  that  river,  such 
as  the  Miami  and  the  Scioto.  Numerous  isolated  settle- 
ments were  made;  the  more  prominent  at  that  time  were 
those  of  which,  respectively,  the  towns  of  Dayton,  Chilli- 
cothe,  and  Columbus  were  the  centers.  These  three  were 
the  first — namely.  Revs.  James  Welch,  Robert  G.  Wilson, 
and  James  Hoge — to  have  stated  Presbyterian  pastors  of 
their  churches.  Meanwhile  devoted  missionaries  were 
traveling  and  preaching  in  the  smaller  and  scattered  set- 
tlements throughout  the  entire  region.  It  was  estimated 
that  in  i8io  the  population  of  all  these  amounted  to 
25,000 

Settlements  in  the  Reserve. — During  this  period  a 
stream  of  immigrants  was  pouring  into  the  northeastern 
portion  of  the  State.  These  came  principally  from  the 
States  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  they  located 
on  the  Connecticut  or  Western  Reserve.  These  settlers 
brought  with  them  their  love  for  the  gospel  and  for  a  free 
and  liberal  education,  and  in  consequence  churches  and 
school-houses  were  soon  established  wherever  there  was 
a  population  sufficient  to  sustain  them.  These  churches, 
for  the  most  part,  were  Presbyterian  and  Congregational, 
the  latter  predominating,  though  there  was  very  often  the 
blending  of  the  two  in  Christian  fellowship,  when  circum- 
stances authorized  such  a  union  of  the  membership  in  the 
churches. 

Ministers  of  the  Ohio  Presbytery. — The  Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg, from  its  position,  had  easier  access  to  the  churches 
and  settlements  in  the  Reserve  than  any  other  ecclesi- 
astical body.  One  of  its  presbyteries,  the  Ohio,  availed 
itself  of  this  privilege,  and  sent  numbers  of  missionaries  to 


294  A    HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

these  destitute  churches.  The  presbytery  itself,  as  well 
as  its  individual  members,  manifested  great  ability  and 
enterprise  and  true  devotion  to  the  cause  of  preaching 
the  gospel  in  the  settlements  that  were  constantly  forming 
by  the  multitudes  of  people  who  were  coming  from  as  far 
east  as  Massachusetts.  Realizing  its  responsibility  in  the 
premises,  the  presbytery  supplied,  as  far  as  possible,  licen- 
tiates and  ministers,  who  in  turn,  by  their  arduous  labors 
and  self-denial,  exerted  an  influence  that  indirectly  tells 
for  good  even  to  this  day.  The  ministers  thus  sent  by 
the  presbytery  were  welcomed  by  the  churches  on  the  Re- 
serve, and  between  them  existed  cordial  relations.  Though 
the  Reserve  belonged  originally  to  Connecticut,  the  ma- 
jority of  the  inhabitants,  in  1813,  were  not  from  New 
England. 

Prominent  among  the  earlier  preachers  sent  by  the  pres- 
bytery, was  Rev.  William  Wick,  a  native  of  Long  Island, 
but  who  removed  to  Western  Pennsylvania  with  his 
father's  family ;  received  his  education  at  the  Academy  at 
Canonsburg,  studied  under  Dr.  John  McMillan,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  by  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio, 
August  28,  1799.  Under  its  direction  he  entered  upon  his 
duties  as  a  missionary  to  the  people  of  the  Reserve,  where 
he  became  the  first  settled  minister,  when,  in  1800,  he 
was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  of  Youngstown  and  Hopewell,  He  made,  how- 
ever, yearly  preaching  tours  among  the  neighboring  des- 
titute churches;  in  this  he  was  sustained  by  the  Connec- 
ticut Missionary  Society.  After  three  years  his  church  at 
Youngstown  was  blessed  with  an  extensive  revival.  One 
of  its  subjects  was  Thomas  Barr,  who  afterward  studied 
theology,  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  became  one  of  the 
most  laborious  and  successful  preachers  of  the  time  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

Rev.  Joseph  Badger. — The  name  of  Joseph  Badger  de- 


SETTLEMENTS    AND    CHURCHES    IN    THE   WEST.  295 

serves  remembrance  perhaps  more  than  any  one  of  the 
many  devoted  missionaries  and  pastors  who  blest  these 
regions  by  their  labors.  He  was  sent  as  their  first  minister 
to  the  Reserve  by  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society. 
He  preached  his  first  sermon  in  that  region  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Youngstown. 

Badger  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  born  at  Wilbra- 
ham,  in  1757;  his  parents  were  intimate  friends  of  the 
sainted  David  Brainerd,  whose  mantle  seems  to  have  fallen 
on  their  son  Joseph.  Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Lex- 
ington, though  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  entered  the  army 
of  the  patriots.  He  participated  in  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  and  went  with  Gen.  Arnold  in  his  expedition 
against  Quebec.  After  two  years  of  service  he  was  com- 
pelled by  almost  fatal  ill-health  to  be  discharged  from  the 
army,  though  two  months  after  his  arrival  at  his  home 
he  \olunteered  to  aid  in  repelling  the  British  under  Gov. 
Tryon,  who  had  just  burned  Danbury,  Conn.  (1777). 
His  health  having  been  restored,  he  again  enlisted  in  the 
army,  but  when  his  term  of  service  expired  he  found  him- 
self penniless,  as  his  pay  in  Continental  money  was  nearly 
worthless.  Meanwhile,  becoming  a  Christian,  he  deter- 
minecl  to  obtain  an  education.  The  progress  in  his  prepa- 
ration was  slow,  but  his  energy  enabled  him  to  surmount 
every  obstacle.  To  secure  means  he  often  labored  at  the 
loom,  and  sometimes  taught  school.  At  length  he  pre- 
sented himself  to  be  examined  for  entrance  into  Yale,  and 
being  accepted,  he  struggled  through,  often  doing  menial 
service  round  the  college.  He  graduated,  and  after  study- 
ing theology  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Blanford,  Mass.  Then 
his  sympathies  were  specially  drawn  toward  the  destitute 
settlements  of  the  West,  and  at  his  own  request  he  was 
dismissed  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  a  missionary  under 
a  commission  from  the  Connecticut  Society.    The  follow- 


296         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

ing  month  he  set  out  on  horseback  for  his  distant  field 
of  labor  in  the  Reserve.  During  the  winter  and  spring 
he  traveled  over  the  southern  portion,  preaching  to  desti- 
tute congregations.  The  badness  of  the  roads,  often  only 
bridle-paths,  did  not  deter  him,  neither  did  the  swollen 
streams,  which  he  taught  his  horse  to  swim.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  the  same  year  he  visited  the  other  portions  of  the 
region,  finding  his  way  to  Cleveland. 

The  Presbytery  of  Ohio,  about  this  time,  requested  Mr. 
Badger  to  accompany  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hughes  in  a  mis- 
sionary visit  to  the  Indians  in  Detroit.  He  reported: 
"There  was  not  one  Christian  to  be  found  in  all  that  re- 
gion, except  a  black  man,  who  appeared  to  be  pious." 
The  missions  to  the  Indians  by  both  the  Congregational- 
ists  and  the  Presbyterians  were,  for  the  most  part,  unsuc- 
cessful, and  for  that  reason  they  were,  about  this  time,  par- 
tially suspended.  Under  the  influence  of  their  medicine 
men,  they  refused  to  accept  the  good  white  man's  religion ; 
but  preferred  the  bad  white  man's  whisky  and  to  imitate 
his  evil  habits. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Badger's  return  from  this  mission  he 
set  out  for  home,  to  report  to  the  society  under  whose  care 
he  was.  His  health,  meanwhile,  was  so  broken  by  ex- 
posure and  toil  that  he  required  assistance  in  mounting 
his  horse,  to  which  he  could  scarcely  cling.  Nevertheless, 
he  resolutely  pursued  his  journey,  though  weakened  by 
disease,  for  which  he  daily  took  medicine,  and  by  hunger, 
for  on  a  portion  of  his  five-days'  travel  in  the  wilderness, 
he  was  compelled  to  resort  to  chestnuts  for  food.  At 
length  he  reached  the  town  or  settlement  of  Hudson, 
where  from  necessity  he  rested  for  a  while.  Meantime,  he 
organized  a  church  at  Austinburg  (October,  1801),  con- 
sisting of  fourteen  members — eight  men  and  six  women. 
In  course  of  time  he  reported  to  the  society,  and  also  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  removing  to  the  Reserve  with  his 


SETTLEMENTS   AND   CHURCHES   IN   THE   WEST.  297 

family,  which  consisted  of  a  wife  and  six  children,  and  to 
devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  preaching  the  gospel  in 
that  destitute  region. 

We  find  him  a  month  or  two  later  setting  out  on  his  long 
and  laborious  journey,  with  his  worldly  effects  on  board  a 
four-horse  wagon,  which  served  the  purpose  of  a  carriage 
and  also  a  tent  for  the  family.  In  that  inclement  season, 
when  his  progress  was  retarded  by  a  storm  which  covered 
the  ground  with  snow  two  feet  deep,  he  put  his  wagon- 
bed  upon  runners  and  hurried  on,  and  after  two  months  of 
such  unprecedented  toil,  he  arrived,  in  the  early  spring, 
at  Austinburg.  Within  two  weeks  more  his  humble  log- 
cabin  was  put  up,  in  which  Was  a  floor  of  native  earth, 
but  neither  chair  nor  table,  nor  even  a  door,  while  the 
chinks  between  the  logs  were  unfilled.  It  was  now  time  to 
plant  a  garden ;  that  essential  work  he  left  for  his  wife  and 
family  to  do,  while  he  himself,  as  in  duty  bound,  set  out 
on  a  preaching  tour  from  which  he  did  not  return  till  the 
middle  of  the  following  June  (1802). 

In  order  to  have  more  fully  the  sympathy  of  brother 
ministers,  about  this  time  he  connected  himself  with  the 
Presbytery  of  Erie,  which  had  been  recently  set  off  (1801 ) 
from  those  of  Ohio  and  Redstone.  When  asked  why  he, 
a  Congregationalist,  wished  to  change  his  church  rela- 
tions, he  answered".  "I  believe  you  are  ministers  of  the 
gospel.  I  am  alone;  I  need  your  watch  and  counsel." 
He  ever  after  acted  in  evangelical  work  in  connection  with 
the  Presbyterians.  We  have  not  room  to  go  further  into 
detail  concerning  his  trials,  privations,  and  incessant 
labors. 

Woman's  Self-denying  Labors. — In  closing  this  sad 
story  of  labor  and  toil  under  numerous  distressing  circum- 
stances there  is  presented  a  phase  of  the  subject  that  de- 
serves the  attention  and  ought  to  enlist  the  earnest  sym- 
pathy of  all  Christians.  It  is  a  sad  fact,  in  the  histories  of 
21 


298         A    HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,  that  the 
self-denying  labors  of  the  women  who  have  been  the  wives 
of  devoted  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  virtually  ignored; 
their  names  and  noble  deeds  left  to  be  recorded  in  a  book 
that  will  be  open  for  inspection  in  the  Judgment  Day  alone. 
They  shared  toils  with  their  husbands;  cheered  them  in 
hours  of  gloom  that  so  often  overshadow  the  homes,  espe- 
cially of  missionaries  on  our  frontiers.  The  wife  of  the 
home  missionary  to-day  may  not  have  to  endue  trials  simi- 
lar to  those  of  Mrs.  Badger,  in  her  long  and  toilsome  win- 
ter journey,  which  was  devoid  of  comfort  and  replete  with 
deprivations,  that  the  wives  of  ministers  of  to-day  cannot 
realize  when  they  travel.  But  there  are  other  discomforts 
equally  as  pungent  in  giving  pain  to  the  educated,  refined, 
and  sensitive  wife,  who  has  left  her  home,  delightful  in 
its  associations,  to  share  with  her  husband  in  the  new  set- 
tlements the  trials  and  deprivations  incident  to  frontier 
life.  The  labors  of  the  wives  of  ministers  are  not  limited 
alone  to  those  of  missionary  life.  Self-denying  wives  are 
found  in  cultured  and  refined  associations,  where  they 
are  truly  helpmeets  for  their  husbands,  to  relieve  them  of 
many  domestic  and  annoying  cares  that  interfere  with  the 
proper  preparation  for  the  pulpit  or  other  pastoral  duties. 
Tradition  tells  that  the  great  Jonathan  Edwards  once 
asked  his  wife  if  the  grass  in  the  meadow  ought  not  to  be 
cut.  The  answer  was  "My  dear,  the  hay  has  been  in  the 
barn  three  weeks."  No  doubt  there  may  be  exceptions, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  are  multitudes  and  multitudes  of 
the  type  of  Mrs.  Edwards.  It  is  a  sad  reflection ;  but 
throughout  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  when- 
ever we  read  of  the  lack  of  material  support  for  its  min- 
isters and  missionaries,  it  always  implies  sufferings  en- 
tailed upon  their  wives  and  children. 

Population  and  Preachers. — Immigrants  continued  to 
pour    into    the    Reserve,    and    the  Connecticut    Society, 


SETTLEMENTS   AND    CHURCHES    IN    THE   WEST.  299 

though  it  could  furnish  the  means  to  support  them,  had 
not  the  men  to  supply  the  religious  wants  of  these  people, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  struggle  lasting  six  years,  it  had  only 
one  missionary  in  the  field.  The  great  distance  and  the 
numerous  obstacles  in  the  way  of  travel  had,  no  doubt, 
much  to  do  in  preventing  ministers  and  their  families 
migrating  thither,  while  the  pressing  religious  wants  of 
the  churches  nearer  home,  as  fields  of  prospective  useful- 
ness, were  equally  urgent  in  demanding  their  services. 

The  Synod  of  Pittsburg  came  to  the  rescue,  as  it  was 
nearer  the  scene  of  operations  and  had,  also,  more  young 
men  about  to  enter  the  ministry.  The  Canonsburg 
Academy  had  developed  into  Jefferson  College  (1802); 
in  past  years  the  students  of  the  former  in  an  unusual 
proportion  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  sacred  office, 
and  the  same  ratio  was  kept  up  in  the  college.  Num- 
bers of  these  students  had  become  Christians  during  the 
great  revival  in  that  region,  already  noted  (p.  2^1).  The 
labors  of  these  men  were  not  without  success,  since  in 
1808  it  was  estimated  that  nearly  twenty  churches  had 
been  organized,  while  in  addition  were  many  preaching 
stations,  with  the  prospect  of  their  becoming  established 
congregations.  The  region  of  the  Reserve  was  blessed 
repeatedly  by  revivals;  the  missionary  tours  of  Revs. 
Joseph  Badger  and  Thomas  Robbins,  and  preachers  from 
the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  were  often  greatly  blessed.  The 
General  Assembly,  also,  aided  the  cause  by  sending  quite 
a  number  of  missionaries  who  traversed  the  new  settle- 
ments that  were  constantly  forming  in  the  desirable  and 
fertile  districts  outside  the  Reserve. 

.  Among  these  immigrants  were  great  numbers  who  had 
been  church  members  in  their  Eastern  homes,  and  they 
appreciated  at  their  full  value  the  services  of  these 
preachers.  In  addition,  they  were  all  in  favor  of  pro- 
moting  education    for    their   children.     In    some   places 


300         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

where  they  had  no  preaching,  these  Christians  estab- 
hshed  prayer-meetings  and  conducted  them  as  best  they 
could.  The  leaven  of  former  instruction  received  in  their 
youth  was  working  among  them  and  preparing  the  way 
for  a  fuller  reception  of  the  gospel  when  presented  in 
after  years  by  a  more  settled  ministry.  This  is  virtually 
a  summary  of  the  reports  made  by  the  traveling  min- 
isters and  missionaries,  who  went  from  place  to  place 
in  preaching  to  the  feeble  churches  that  had  only  a  few 
members,  and  were  dependent  upon  the  Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg and  the  General  Assembly  for  their  supply  of 
preachers. 

The  war  between  England  and  the  United  States 
(1812-1815)  had  a  most  deleterious  effect  upon  the  spir- 
ituality of  the  churches  throughout  the  Nation.  In  no 
section  of  the  Union  was  this  disastrous  influence  more 
vividly  felt  than  in  the  Reserve,  as  some  of  the  exciting 
scenes  of  the  war  occurred  on  Lake  Erie  and  around  its 
shores.  {Four  Hundred,  etc.,  pp.  6^0-640.)  Everywhere 
in  these  scattered  settlements,  when  in  their  normal  condi- 
tion, the  traveling  missionary  was  heartily  welcomed  by 
the  people. 


XXXI. 

Increase  of  the  Church. 

The  growth  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  from  1816  to 
1826  is  shown  from  statistics.  At  the  former  date  the 
number  of  presbyteries  was  forty-three  and  at  the  latter 
eighty-six.  Meanwhile  the  five  hundred  and  forty  min- 
isters had  increased  to  more  than  eleven  hundred  and 
forty,  and  the  nine  hundred  and  forty  churches  had  be- 
come more  than  two  thousand.  The  number  of  church 
members  in  1816  was  less  than  40,000,  but  in  1825 
was  more  than  122,000 — an  increase  of  three-fold  in  less 
than  ten  years.  It  will  be  remembered  that  1816  was  the 
first  year  after  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  the 
latter's  evil  influence  lingered  long  among  the  churches 
and  the  people  outside  of  them.  As  a  general  rule,  during 
this  period  of  ten  years  there  was  an  unusual  prevalence 
of  harmony  in  the  promotion  of  church  work,  one  phase 
of  which  was  an  increased  interest  in  favor  of  minis- 
terial education.  Collateral  with  the  latter  was  an  effort 
to  promote  the  cause  of  missions,  domestic  and  foreign. 

Accessions  from  Other  Bodies  to  the  Church. — Dur- 
ing these  years  Congregational  families  migrating  from 
New  England,  who  came  into  the  vicinity  of  Presbyterian 
churches,  usually  united  with  them,  while  there  were,  also, 
accessions  in  many  instances  from  the  Associated  Re- 
formed Church.  More  striking  than  these  were  revivals, 
some  of  which  were  quite  extensive,  that  prevailed  in  a 
number  of  localities.  The  greater  increase  in  church 
members  was  in  the  North  and  West.  This  was  especially 


302         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  case  in  Central  and  Western  New  York,  Ohio,  Indi- 
ana, and  the  neighboring  States.  The  plan  of  union  in 
the  first  of  these  States  had  the  effect  of  promoting  Pres- 
byterianism,  for  the  reason  mainly  that  its  home  was  on 
the  ground,  while  the  center  of  influence  of  Congregation- 
alism was  comparatively  distant;  either  form  of  church 
government  was  utilized  as  a  matter  of  expediency  ac- 
cording to  circumstances.  There  appeared  to  be  no 
rivalry  and  jealousy  involved,  and  church  members  fell 
in  with  that  which  seemed  the  best  adapted  to  the  exist- 
ing conditions. 

Reports  on  Revivals. — During  this  period  the  reports  to 
successive  General  Assemblies  made  mention  in  almost 
every  one  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  within  the 
bounds  of  the  dift'erent  presbyteries,  so  that  there  was 
scarcely  a  locality  which  at  one  time  or  another  had  not 
been  visited.  The  assemblies  of  1819  and  1820  were  spe- 
cially cheered  by  the  reports  concerning  revivals,  extend- 
ing from  Northern  New  York  down  toward  the  south  as 
far  as  East  Tennessee.  In  the  latter  year  about  eighty 
churches  were  blessed  with  such  seasons  of  spiritual 
refreshing.  The  report  of  182 1  showed  an  aggregate  of 
conversions  from  the  world  within  the  bounds  of  the 
church  to  have  been  between  nine  and  ten  thousand.  It 
was  estimated  that  during  this  period  of  ten  years  not  less 
than  50,000  were  added  to  the  church  from  the  world  as 
the  outcome  of  revivals. 

Board  of  Missions. — In  1816  the  assembly  increased 
the  membership  and  the  power  of  its  Committee  on  Mis- 
sions, and  changed  its  name  to  the  "Board  of  Missions." 
The  members  of  which  board  were  to  be  elected  annually 
by  the  assembly,  and  it  was  empowered  to  appoint  mis- 
sionaries at  its  discretion,  and  also  provide  for  their  sup- 
port and  designate  the  amount  of  salary  to  be  paid.  On 
this  occasion  the  idea  was  suggested  for  the  first  time 


INCREASE   OF   THE    CHURCH.  303 

that  the  Presbyterian  Church  should  be  ex  officio,  a  mis- 
sionary society,  as  the  command  was  to  the  collective 
body  of  the  disciples  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  nations. 
The  time,  however,  had  not  yet  come  to  carry  into  effect 
that  theory,  since  there  were  other  denominations  in  con- 
nection with  that  church  engaged  in  missionary  enter- 
prises, and  in  addition  there  were  indications  that  a  soci- 
ety on  missions  might  be  formed  that  would  unite  in  the 
effort  with  the  Presbyterians,  the  Reformed  Dutch,  and 
the  Associate  Reformed.  A  constitution  was  drawn  up 
by  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  and  which  was 
approved  by  the  committees  of  the  three  bodies  above 
mentioned.  Finally,  on  July  28,  18 17,  the  society  was 
duly  organized  under  the  name :  "The  United  Foreign 
Missionary  Society."     {Gillett,  II.,  p.  siy.) 

The  assembly  of  that  year  in  its  pastoral  letter  gave  its 
sanction  to  such  missionary  associations,  to  Bible  socie- 
ties, and  plans  for  the  distribution  of  religious  tracts, 
and  also  exhorted  its  church  members  to  support  them 
"vigorously"  with  their  contributions.  Within  a  short 
time,  to  the  care  of  this  society  were  transferred  the  sta- 
tions and  likewise  the  funds  of  the  New  York  and  the 
Northern  missionary  societies,  and  other  similar  organi- 
zations in  the  State,  as  the  work  could  be  carried  on  more 
efficiently,  their  efforts  being  thus  concentrated.  The 
receipts  of  funds  for  the  society  show  that  the  church 
members  became  more  and  more  interested  in  the  subject, 
and  in  proportion  recognized  their  responsibility.  For 
illustration,  in  the  first  year  they  contributed  $2578;  in 
the  second,  about  $3400,  and  in  the  third,  more  than 
$15,000 

Efforts  for  an  Educated  Ministry. — The  Congregation- 
alists  of  New  England  were  zealous  to  have  an  educated 
ministry,  and  local  educational  societies  were  organized 
in  those  States,  and  also  within  the  bounds  of  the  Pres- 


304         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

byterian  Church  in  other  States.  The  Board  of  Educa- 
tion was  established  in  1819,  in  view  of  the  demands  for 
ministers.  In  a  worldly  point  of  view  the  inducements 
are  very  small  for  young  men  to  enter  upon  the  expense, 
the  laborious  study  and  trials  in  preparing  for  the  sacred 
office.  Under  these  conditions  the  obligation  of  the  church 
to  furnish  ministers  of  the  gospel  for  her  service  is  similar 
to  that  of  the  United  States  to  provide  educated  officers 
for  its  army  and  navy  at  West  Point  and  Annapolis. 
The  cadets  of  the  Nation  are  not  only  lodged,  clothed, 
and  fed  at  the  public  expense,  but  they  have  the  assurance, 
when  they  graduate,  of  employment  at  a  liberal  salary. 
The  West  Point  cadet  has  only  four  years  to  serve  as  a 
student,  while  the  Presbyterian  theologian  has  in  his 
whole  course  of  study  usually  nine  years,  and  under  ex- 
pense the  whole  time.  Meanwhile,  the  Educational  Soci- 
ety is  careful  to  furnish  only  a  small  moiety  of  that  ex- 
pense. He,  it  is  true,  is  taught  self-reliance  in  the  school 
of  self-support,  or  nearly  so,  and  when  he  graduates  and 
io  licensed  to  preach  he  turns  to  the  church  for  employ- 
ment as  a  missionary  or  a  pastor,  on  a  mere  pittance  of 
a  salary,  and  that  sometimes  uncertain.  The  student  who 
under  such  conditions  seeks  the  sacred  office  must  be 
actuated  by  a  higher  motive  than  pecuniary  gain. 

The  great  number  of  feeble  congregations  in  the  vari- 
ous presbyteries  was  startling,  and  the  General  Assembly 
of  1825  called  upon  the  churches  "to  consider  very  seri- 
ously the  case  of  the  destitute  parts  of  our  country, 
especially  of  the  many  thousands  of  families  in  the  new 
States  in  the  West  and  in  the  South,  which  are  growing 
up  almost  destitute  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  and  of 
all  religious  instruction."  {G.,  II.,  p.  228.)  The  problem 
of  the  future  of  the  Nation,  in  relation  to  its  Christian 
character,  was  earnestly  urged  in  support  of  domestic 
missions,  not  only  by  means  of  preaching  the  word,  but 


■^ 


Rev.   Gardiner  Spring,   D.  D. 
(248, 249,  472.^ 


INCREASE    OF   THE    CHURCH.  305 

in  giving  encouragement  to  the  cause  by  sustaining  those 
institutions  that  promote  the  education  and  general  wel- 
fare of  the  people  at  large. 

Revivals  in  Colleges — Theological  Seminaries. — Dur- 
ing the  period  under  review  several  colleges  were  blest 
with  revivals,  and,  in  consequence,  the  number  of  pro- 
fessing Christians  among  the  students  had  much  in- 
creased. In  three  such  institutions — Union  and  Hamil- 
ton, New  York,  and  Princeton,  New  Jersey — the  number 
who  professed  themselves  Christians  was  one  hundred 
and  ten;  of  these,  seventy  were  in  Union,  Dr.  Eliphalet 
Nott  was  then  President  of  Union.  To  supply  the  wants 
of  the  churches  the  question  of  having  more  theological 
seminaries  was  now  earnestly  agitated.  The  presby- 
teries of  Northern  and  Central  New  York  succeeded  in 
having  one  established  in  1820  at  Auburn  in  that  State. 
A  similar  question  was  most  earnestly  discussed  for  a 
year  or  two  among  the  churches  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio,  and  Kentucky.  The  outcome  was  the  West- 
ern Theological  Seminary,  which  was  located  in  1826  at 
Allegheny,  Pennsylvania.  In  the  South,  about  the  same 
time.  Union  Seminary,  in  connection  with  Hampden- 
Sidney  College  in  Virginia,  received  a  new  impulse  from 
the  same  cause.  It  had  been  retarded  in  its  progress  by 
an  insufficient  endowment,  and  at  the  request  of  the  trus- 
tees, it  was  taken  under  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly 
in  1826. 

Churches  in  Need  of  Pastors. — The  continued  increase 
of  the  churches  was  faster  than  they  could  be  supplied 
with  pastors,  though  in  the  ten  years,  1816  to  1826,  the 
number  of  missionaries  sent  out  annually  by  the  board 
had  increased  from  fifty  to  more  than  eighty.  To  meet 
these  numerous  demands  the  efforts  of  the  board  became 
more  systematized,  and  more  attention  was  given  to  aid 
feeble  churches  then  in  existence  to  become  self-support- 


305  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYtERIAN    CHURCH. 

ing,  and  thus  permanent  centers  of  Christian  influence, 
rather  than  to  organize  new  ones,  to  Hnger  along  for  a 
few  years  and  then,  perhaps,  die  for  want  of  proper  care 
and  sustenance.  The  tendency  of  the  times  was  toward 
concentrated  efforts,  that  might  be  more  effective  than 
those  that  were  so  much  diffused  by  the  action  of  local 
societies,  which  were  doing  their  duty  as  best  they  could, 
but  by  their  desultory  measures  much  power  and  influence 
were  lost.  In  view  of  these  obvious  reasons,  in  1822  a 
movement  was  inaugurated  that  finally  united  several  local 
missionary  societies  in  the  State  of  New  York,  into  one, 
"The  United  Domestic  Missionary  Society."  The  latter 
organization  was  the  outcome  of  a  convention  of  dele- 
gates from  the  local  societies,  numbering  altogether 
eleven,  whose  names  we  need  not  enumerate,  and  all  of 
whom  were  engaged  in  the  same  evangelical  work.  One 
prominent  evil  was  neutralized  by  this  consolidation.  A 
number  of  these  local  societies  were  so  situated  that  their 
assumed  boundaries  sometimes  overlapped  one  another, 
and  this  circumstance,  though  inadvertently,  led  to  rival- 
ries which  greatly  interfered  with  the  progress  of  the 
work. 

The  oflicers  of  the  new  society  issued  to  the  public  a 
summary  of  the  reasons  for  uniting  all  of  these  organiza- 
tions under  one  control,  which  reasons  appear  to  have 
been  satisfactory  if  we  may  judge  from  the  increased  con- 
tributions to  the  cause.  Under  the  former  desultory  mode 
*'nome  destitute  regions  had  been  regularly  visited  by 
missionaries  of  these  different  societies,  while  others 
equally  in  need  had  been  passed  by."  The  new  society 
entered  upon  its  duties  with  twenty-nine  missionaries 
in  the  field  under  its  control,  while  it  hoped  "to  excite  a 
fresh  and  deeper  interest  in  the  cause  of  home  missions." 
As  an  indication  of  its  work:  "Its  first  report  showed 
that  within  twelve  months  of  its  formation  it  had  in  its 


INCREASE   OF   THE    CHURCH.  307 

employ  sixty  missionaries,  mainly  within  the  bounds  of 
the  State,  This  report  took  decided  ground  in  favor  of 
aiding,  specially,  the  feeble  churches  to  become  self-sup- 
porting, and  making  that  feature  prominent,  hereafter, 
in  organizing  new  churches.  The  auxiliary  societies,  six 
in  number,  were  "entitled  to  designate  the  stations  where 
the  funds  which  they  contributed  were  to  be  employed 
in  supporting  missionaries."  The  appointments  of  the 
latter,  were  however,  in  the  hands  of  the  main  society,  in 
order  to  secure  uniformity.  Sometimes  the  application 
of  such  funds  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  General  So- 
ciety.   (Gillett,  II.,  pp,  22y-22g.) 

The  General  Assembly  of  1819  commenced  a  mutual 
correspondence  with  the  synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
and  Dutch  Reformed  churches;  this  had  been  asked  for 
some  twenty  years  before,  but  for  some  reason  declined. 
The  Associate  Reformed  entered  into  the  arrangement  and 
the  Dutch  Reformed  three  years  later. 

Action  of  the  Charleston  Association. — The  Charles- 
ton (South  Carolina)  Association  appointed  a  committee 
to  investigate  the  principles  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  as 
to  its  mode  of  government  and  other  distinctive  features. 
In  consequence  of  the  favorable  report  of  the  committee, 
the  association  voted  (1822)  to  dissolve  itself  and  unite 
with  the  Presbyterian  Assembly,  which  resolution  was 
carried  into  effect  the  following  year.  To  meet  the  case, 
the  assembly  constituted  the  Charleston  Union  Presbytery 
so  as  to  include  the  ministers  of  the  association  with  a  por- 
tion of  those  belonging  to  the  Harmony  Presbytery. 

Action  on  Psalmody — Intemperance — Sabbath  Dese- 
cration.— The  assembly  of  18 19  directed  its  attention  to 
providing  a  suitable  book  of  Psalmody,  to  be  used  in 
church  services.  The  outcome  of  the  measure  was  not 
published  till  1830,  when  the  book  was  adopted  by  order 
of  the  assembly. 


3o8         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Successive  assemblies  during  this  period  endeavored  to 
direct  public  attention  to  a  number  of  questions  that  had 
arisen  among  its  members  and  congregations,  in  respect 
to  certain  evils  and  their  moral  bearing  on  society  at 
large.  Among  these  evils  were  prominent  those  of  intem- 
perance and  Sabbath  desecration.  Petitions  were  pre- 
pared and  signed  by  great  numbers  of  Presbyterian  church 
members,  as  well  as  by  a  multitude  of  church  members  of 
other  denominations,  and  of  citizens  outside  the  church 
v.'ho  recognized  the  moral  obligations  to  observe  the  day 
of  sacred  rest.  Similar  petitions  were  presented  to  Con- 
gress, from  time  to  time,  praying  for  the  repeal  of  the  law 
demanding  the  mails  to  be  carried  on  the  Sabbath  day. 

Increased  Interest  in  Missions. — The  subject  of  mis- 
sions at  home  and  abroad  had  become  an  absorbing  topic 
in  religious  circles,  and  a  monthly  concert  of  prayer  for 
missions  was  agreed  upon  in  order  to  elicit  an  interest  in 
the  cause.  This  movement  often  received  the  approbation 
of  the  assembly,  and  in  the  session  of  1830  it  specially 
directed  the  attention  of  its  own  churches,  and  likewise 
those  of  other  evangelical  denominations,  to  the  impor- 
tance of  this  union  or  monthly  concert  of  prayer.  At  these 
concerts  it  was  the  custom,  in  addition  to  the  service  of 
prayer,  to  give  the  recent  information  obtained  from  the 
respective  mission  fields.  The  latter  phase  of  the  monthly 
concert  has  been  virtually  superseded  by  the  numerous 
periodicals  published  exclusively  on  the  missions  and  kin- 
dred subjects  by  the  several  evangelical  denominations. 
Owing  to  these  circumstances  the  monthly  concert  has 
been  more  or  less  discontinued. 

The  great  good  to  be  received  by  the  training  of  chil- 
dren in  Sunday-schools  during  this  period  was  recog- 
nized by  the  assembly  at  its  full  importance,  and  the  cause 
was  recommended  to  all  the  churches.  Numerous  exam- 
ples of  the  blessed  influence  of  instructing  children  in 


INCREASE  OF   THE    CHURCH.  309 

this  manner  in  Bible  truths,  were  afforded,  especially  in 
the  cities,  wherein  were  greater  facilities  for  prosecuting 
the  work  among  the  children  of  the  foreign  population 
and  of  others  outside  the  evangelical  churches. 

A  Deliverance  on  Slavery. — The  assembly  of  1818  was 
noted  for  a  deliverance,  as  it  is  termed,  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  which  condemned  the  system  as  unchristian, 
and  expressed  the  desire  for  its  total  extinction,  but  at 
the  same  time  deprecating  any  measures  that  might  en- 
danger the  tranquillity  of  the  country.  It  exhorted  the 
members  of  the  church,  who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to 
be  in  contact  with  the  system,  to  do  their  utmost  to  give 
religious  instruction  to  the  slaves.  It  expressed  its  sym- 
pathy for  those  portions  of  the  church  upon  which  the 
evils  of  slavery  had  been  entailed,  saying:  "When  a  great 
and  the  most  virtuous  part  of  the  community  abhor 
slavery,  and  wish  its  extermination  as  sincerely  as  any 
others." 


XXXII. 

Increase  of  the  Church  Continued. 

The  progress  of  the  church  from  1825  to  1835  was  un- 
usually rapid.  The  number  of  synods  increased  from 
fourteen  to  twenty-three,  and  the  presbyteries  from 
eighty-one  to  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five.  The 
number  of  ministers  in  1825  was  one  thousand  and  eighty, 
but  ten  years  later  it  was  about  two  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred, and  during  the  same  period  the  churches  numbered 
seventeen  hundred  and  seventy,  while  the  church  mem- 
bership had  more  than  doubled,  amounting  in  round  num- 
bers in  1835  to  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 
This  unusual  increase  was  the  outcome  of  numerous  and 
extensive  revivals,  which,  during  the  period,  extended 
almost  over  the  entire  Union.  These  revivals  induced  re- 
newed action  in  favor  of  union  measures  for  evangelical 
labors  throughout  the  land.  In  promotion  of  this  work, 
pians  for  the  first  time  were  devised  by  the  evangelical 
denominations  to  place  the  Bible  in  every  family  in  the 
Nation,  and  special  efforts  were  made  by  Presbyterians 
to  organize  Sabbath-schools  in  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  American  Tract  Society,  then  recently  brought 
into  existence,  greatly  aided  the  cause  by  the  liberal  dis- 
tribution of  religious  tracts  and  books.  The  temperance 
reform  continued  to  be  discussed  in  the  churches.  This 
reform  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  revivals  of  the  period. 
On  the  same  line  special  attention  was  given  to  the 
monthly  concert  of  prayer  for  missions,  both  foreign  and 
domestic. 


INCREASE    OF    THE   CHURCH    CONTINUED.  3II 

Increased  Missionary  Effort. — During  this  time  an 
ardent  religious  sentiment  seemed  more  than  usual  to  per- 
meate the  inner  life  of  the  church  members  of  all  the 
denominations.  As  they  realized  more  correctly  the  great- 
ness of  the  religious  destitution  of  the  land.  In  conse- 
quence, the  churches  began  to  press  forward  with  un- 
wonted zeal  to  remedy  these  evils  by  sending  missionaries 
to  supply,  as  far  as  possible,  the  existing  religious  wants; 
and  in  addition  they  took  measures  to  support  these  la- 
borers in  their  Christian  work.  On  this  line  of  evangel- 
ical effort  were  organized  a  number  of  local  missionary 
societies  which  in  time  became  auxiliary  to  the  national 
society.  By  this  means  the  attention  of  church  mem- 
bers in  such  localities  and  in  their  immediate  vicinity 
was  more  fully  directed  to  the  importance  of  the  cause  of 
domestic  or  home  missions. 

Of  these  local  associations,  the  Western  Missionary 
Society  of  Utica,  New  York,  formed  in  1826,  was  per- 
haps the  most  effective,  as  it  sent  out  ministers  whose 
sphere  of  labor  was  extended  to  about  fifty  towns  and 
villages  in  the  State ; — it  is  said  that  in  eight  of  these  vil- 
lages no  church  had  yet  been  organized.  Among  other 
local  societies  was  one  in  connection  with  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  likewise  one  in  Monroe 
County,  New  York ;  both  of  these  did  effective  work.  To 
promote  unity  of  action  and  more  efficient  work,  these 
local  societies  in  the  various  portions  of  the  Union,  when 
the  necessities  of  the  time  demanded  the  change,  became 
auxiliary  to  the  Home  Missionary  Society. 

A  convention  of  the  friends  of  home  missions  met  in  the 
City  of  New  York  in  1826,  during  the  May  anniversaries 
and  proposed  a  comprehensive  plan,  in  order  to  concen- 
trate the  efforts  of  all  the  local  organizations.  The  out- 
come of  the  convention  was  the  formation  of  the  Ameri- 
can Home  Missionary  Society,  with  which,  in  due  time. 


312         A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  local  organizations  became  affiliated  as  auxiliaries. 
The  United  Domestic  Society,  formed  in  1822,  was  the 
first  to  fall  into  line.  The  new  society,  in  the  extent  of  its 
plan,  became  national  in  character,  and  accordingly  as- 
sumed the  responsibilities,  financial  and  otherwise,  of  the 
various  locals  that  became  its  auxiliaries,  the  latter  pass- 
ing over  to  it  the  missionaries  under  their  care. 

The  list  of  the  first  officers  of  the  society,  about  twenty 
in  number,  comprised  the  names  of  great  influence  in  their 
respective  denominations — the  Congregational,  the  Dutch 
Reformed,  and  the  Presbyterian.  The  organization  of 
this  society,  so  national  in  its  character  and  purpose,  gave 
great  satisfaction  to  these  three  denominations.  It  was 
hailed  with  joy  throughout  the  country,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  letters  of  congratulation  that  its  management 
received,  especially  from  the  South  and  West,  the  regions 
wherein  its  ministrations  were  so  greatly  needed. 

Influence  of  the  First  Address. — The  first  address  is- 
sued by  the  committee  to  the  churches,  which  were  to  aid 
the  cause  by  their  contributions,  confirmed  with  great 
earnestness  the  purely  national  character  of  the  society  in 
its  object  and  in  its  plan  of  operation.  It  announced  that 
its  aim  was  not  to  interfere  "with  the  benevolent  exertions 
of  those  who  might  deem  it  their  duty  to  act  apart  from 
its  advice."  It  was  preeminently  a  voluntary  association 
t(i  send  the  gospel  in  its  purity  to  the  destitute  portions  of 
the  Union,  while  the  upright,  practical,  and  christian 
character  of  its  officers  was  a  guarantee  that  its  operations 
would  be  judiciously  managed  and  the  disbursements  of 
its  funds  carefully  made.  Its  missionaries  went  forth  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  to  be  cheered  by  receiving  a  cordial 
welcome  wherever  they  came.  This  was  specially  the  case 
in  the  South  and  West. 

Eastern  Christians  soon  became  largely  interested  in 
the  subject,  because  the  agents  of  the  society  and  its  pub- 


INCREASE    OF   THE    CHURCH    CONTINUED.  313 

lications  made  known  more  clearly  and  definitely  the  re- 
ligious wants  in  the  various  destitute  regions  of  the 
Union.  It  was  discovered  very  soon  by  investigation  that 
to  supply  properly  these  demands  of  the  people  of  the 
Western  States  alone,  would  require  at  once  five  hundred 
ministers,  in  addition  to  the  three  hundred  already  in  the 
field,  while  equally  urgent  requests  for  preachers  were 
coming  in  from  the  South  and  Southwest.  Even  in  the 
older  States  were  numerous  weak  churches  that  were 
languishing  for  spiritual  food.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  inauguration  of  a  missionary  society,  so  com- 
prehensive in  the  outlines  of  its  intended  operations,  was 
hailed  with  joy  and  enthusiasm,  especially  in  the  Presby- 
terian and  Congregational  churches. 

As  has  been  indicated,  the  spirit  of  missions  was  abroad, 
and  while  a  number  of  local  societies  had  done  a  local 
work,  there  were  large  sections  in  the  Union  that  were  be- 
yond the  influence  of  Associations  so  limited,  both  in  men 
and  funds,  and  the  numerous  facilities  that  naturally  in- 
crease in  proportion  to  the  number  of  men  and  the  amount 
of  pecuniary  means.  At  that  time,  no  one  of  the  three 
denominations  specially  interested  was  sufficiently  strong, 
either  in  the  number  of  its  church  members  or  in  the 
available  funds  at  its  command,  to  sustain  a  missionary 
society  that  was  truly  national  in  its  character.  It  was 
in  the  future  when  their  numbers  and  financial  circum- 
stances would  authorize  any  one  of  these  denominations, 
singly  and  alone,  to  sustain  a  society  that  could  station  its 
missionaries  in  every  portion  of  the  Union. 

Destitution  in  Nezv  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Great 
Valley. — In  Western  New  York  in  1828  there  were  about 
fifty  Presbyterian  churches  vacant  or  but  partially  served, 
while  were  coming  urgent  calls  from  fifty  more  in  dis- 
tricts that  were  almost  destitute  of  any  Christian  ministra- 
tions. Similar  statements  were  made  in  relation  to  the  re- 
22 


314         A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ligious  condition  of  the  northern  portion  of  Pennsylvania. 
In  Ohio,  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  the  Western 
Reserve,  were  eighty-seven  churches,  and  within  the  same 
hmit  only  forty-two  Presbyterian  ministers,  while  the 
churches  were,  for  the  most  part,  not  having  many  mem- 
bers each.  It  ought  to  be  taken  into  consideration  that 
where  now  are  rich  farming  regions  and  villages,  there 
were  then  only  scattered  settlements,  while  the  greater 
portion  of  the  territory  was  unoccupied.  The  larger  tide 
of  immigrants  for  some  time  had  been  going  through  and 
past  Ohio  into  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois. 

In  1827  it  was  estimated  that  Indiana  had  nearly  300,- 
000  inhabitants ;  the  region  bordering  on  the  Wabash  river 
was  fast  filling  up  because  of  its  exceptionally  fertile  soil. 
Within  the  limits  of  the  State,  however,  were  only  twelve 
resident  Presbyterian  ministers,  and  about  the  same  num- 
ber who  were  missionaries,  traveling  from  place  to  place, 
and  about  sixty  churches,  some  of  whom  with  scarcely 
more  than  a  name.  In  the  State  of  Illinois  were  only  six 
or  seven  settled  Presbyterian  pastors,  while  in  the  State  of 
Missouri  were  five  or  six  missionaries  of  the  same  church. 
The  Presbytery  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  had  only  seven 
ministers  in  1830,  when  the  territory  had  a  population  of 
30,000.  Further  south,  in  Kentucky,  with  a  population  of 
quite  600,000,  were  only  forty  settled  Presbyterian  pas- 
tors. The  number  of  ministers  of  the  same  denomination 
in  East  Tennessee  was  small,  indeed,  compared  with  that 
of  the  population  and  its  religious  wants,  while  the  west- 
ern portion  of  the  State  was  even  less  supplied  with  Pres- 
byterian ministers.  To  meet  the  demand  for  such  preach- 
ers the  Synod  of  Tennessee  resolved  in  1827  to  found  a 
theological  seminary  in  connection  with  Cumberland  Col- 
lege, which  had  recently  been  placed  under  another  name 
— Nashville  University — and  better  auspices,  when  Dr. 


INCREASE    OF    THE    CHURCH    CONTINUED.  315 

Philip  Lindsley  assumed  its  presidency  in  1824.  For  some 
reason  the  seminary  was  not  established. 

The  Church  in  New  Orleans  and  Mobile. — From  the 
extreme  South  the  cry  for  ministers  came  equally  as 
urgent.  In  New  Orleans,  with  a  resident  population  of 
nearly  50,000,  which  in  the  business  season  swelled  to 
70,000,  was  only  one  Presbyterian  church.  The  latter 
had  been  gathered  by  Dr.  Elias  Cornelius  and  the  elo- 
quent Rev.  Sylvester  Larned;  of  this  church  Rev.  Theo- 
dore Clapp  was  pastor  (1827).  Outside  of  that  city  were 
only  two  Presbyterian  ministers  in  the  State  of  Louisiana, 
while  west  of  the  Lower  Mississippi  was  not  one.  The 
Presbytery  of  Mississippi  then  included  that  State  and 
Louisiana,  and  with  a  total  population  of  nearly  three 
hundred  thousand  there  were  altogether  twelve  Presby- 
terian ministers  and  only  nine  of  these  were  engaged  in 
active  and  stated  work. 

The  Presbytery  of  Alabama  was  earnestly  calling  for 
ministers  to  supply  the  vacant  churches  within  its  bounds. 
The  church  in  Mobile  was  organized  in  1827,  with  one 
hundred  and  twelve  members,  but  they  could  only  obtain 
preaching  once  a  month  by  Rev.  Lucas  Kennedy,  who  was 
commissioned  (1819)  as  missionary  by  the  General  As- 
sembly. The  people  had  gone  to  work  earnestly  and 
erected  a  building  to  serve  as  a  church,  an  academy,  and  a 
Sunday-school  room.  Urgent  calls  continued  to  come  to 
the  presbytery  from  Pensacola  and  from  Tuscaloosa  and 
the  vicinity. 

The  Church  in  Hunfsville. — The  Young  Men's  Evan- 
gelical Missionary  Society  of  New  York  sent  to  Hunts- 
ville.  Rev.  Isaac  W.  Piatt  (1819).  In  this  prosperous 
village  was  no  organized  Presbyterian  church  or  stated 
ministry,  yet  Mr.  Piatt  testifies  that :  "Its  inhabitants  will 
suffer  nothing  by  a  comparison  with  those  of  most  other 
towns  in  our  country,  as  respects  intelligence,  refinement, 


31 6         A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

and  wealth."  The  town,  because,  perhaps,  of  its  beauty  of 
situation,  became  a  favorite  summer  resort  of  the  wealthy 
planters  in  the  South.  In  consequence,  in  after  years 
Huntsville  held  an  enviable  position  in  the  educational 
world  by  means  of  fine  schools,  especially  for  young 
women.  Through  Mr.  Piatt's  exertions  and  influence  a 
handsome  church  building  was  erected.  About  this  time 
Presbyterian  churches  were  established  in  Tuscaloosa, 
Tuscumbia,  Selma,  and  other  places  in  the  State.  The 
whole  number  of  Presbyterian  ministers,  including  settled 
pastors  and  missionaries,  in  the  State  in  1825  was  seven- 
teen. 

The  Church  in  Georgia,  Carolinas,  and  Florida. — Other 
churches  continued  to  be  organized  in  this  tier  of  South- 
ern States.  Georgia  had  a  great  number  of  vacant 
churches,  while  there  were  only  seventeen  ordained  Pres- 
byterian ministers  in  the  State.  Meanwhile  the  number 
of  churches  was  increasing  five-fold  faster  than  that  of 
the  ministers  to  supply  them.  A  similar  reign  of  desti- 
tution prevailed  in  the  Carolinas  and  Florida.  In  the  east- 
ern portion  of  the  latter  was  a  population  of  6000,  mostly 
in  the  vicinity  of  St,  Augustine,  in  which  village  vice  was 
represented  as  bold  and  rampant,  gambling  houses  were 
licensed  by  law,  and  intemperance  prevailed  unblushingly. 
In  St.  Augustine  was  organized  in  1824  the  first  Presby- 
terian church,  through  the  exertions  of  Rev.  William 
McWhirr.  He  ordained  elders  and  administered  the  or- 
dinances of  the  church,  then  went  to  work  to  raise  money 
in  order  to  build  a  suitable  dwelling  for  the  new  church 
and  persevered  till  he  had  accomplished  that  most  de- 
sirable object. 

South  and  North  Carolina  Churches. — The  Presbytery 
of  South  Carolina  was  composed  of  twelve  members,  but 
within  its  bounds  were  thirty-five  churches  (1827),  which, 
in  the  main,  were  not  self-supporting,  and  some  were  even 


Rev.   Philip  Lindsley,  D.  D. 

(315,  497-499-) 


INCREASE    OF    THE    CHURCH    CONTINUED.  317 

on  the  border  of  extinction.  The  ministers,  in  order  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  people  as  best  they  could,  supplied 
more  than  one  church,  even  three  and  four,  and  they 
often  a  number  of  miles  apart. 

The  Presbyterian  churches  of  North  Carolina  were  at 
this  time  equally  destitute  of  the  stated  supply  of  the  min- 
istry, and  in  like  manner  was  the  portion  of  Virginia  west 
of  the  Blue  Ridge,  while  in  the  eastern  part  were  numer- 
ous vacant  churches,  and  others,  having  been  so  long 
without  stated  preaching,  were  almost  on  the  verge  of 
dissolution.  Reports  from  missionaries  and  others  re- 
vealed the  religious  wants  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  east 
of  the  Blue  Ridge.  Even  the  church  building  at  Drum- 
mondstown,  in  which  Makemie  had  preached,  was  a  ruin, 
and  the  one  on  the  banks  of  the  Nanticoke,  where  Presby- 
terians once  worshiped,  had  totally  disappeared.  Within 
the  boundaries  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lewes,  in  Delaware, 
were  about  eight  churches,  but  it  numbered  only  four  or- 
dained ministers. 

The  Church  beyond  the  Mountains. — The  reports  from 
the  field  of  ministerial  labor  beyond  the  mountains,  north 
and  south — that  is,  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi — made 
known  as  the  great  destitution  of  the  churches,  and  un- 
ceasingly urged  their  fellow  Christians  of  the  East  to 
come  to  their  assistance  by  sending  them  the  gospel. 
Many  of  these  looked  for  help  to  the  assembly's  board, 
but  more,  after  its  organization,  to  the  concentrated  fa- 
cilities found  in  the  Home  Missionary  Society. 


XXXIII. 

Theological  Seminaries. 

Founding  of  Theological  Seminaries. — The  increasing 
demand  for  preachers  of  the  gospel  led  to  an  earnest 
effort  to  educate  a  ministry  for  the  purpose,  and  it  was 
evident  more  seminaries  were  required.  The  Synod  of 
Geneva,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Rochester  in  1818,  urged 
the  propriety  of  establishing  one  somewhere  in  Western 
or  Middle  New  York.  The  following  May  the  proposi- 
tion was  laid  before  the  General  Assembly.  The  latter 
body,  though  not  prepared  to  assume  the  responsibility  of 
establishing  and  sustaining  such  an  institution,  yet  it  did 
not  oppose  the  plan.  After  much  discussion,  a  partial  en- 
dowment being  provided,  the  outcome  was  the  founding 
in  1820  of  a  theological  seminary,  located  at  the  village 
of  Auburn,  A  board  of  commissioners  to  supervise  the 
institution  was  selected  from  the  presbyteries  interested  in 
the  cause.  In  October,  1821,  the  professors  having  been 
chosen,  it  commenced  operations.  Dr.  James  Richards 
was  elected  Professor  of  Theology,  but  did  not  enter  upon 
his  duties  till  1823,  his  place  being  supplied  by  Dr.  M.  L. 
B.  Perrine  of  New  York,  who  was  Professor  of  Eccle- 
siastical History  and  Church  Polity.  In  after  years  the 
institution  continued  to  be  manned  by  equally  able  and 
learned  men. 

The  same  reasons  led  to  a  theological  department  being 
connected  with  the  college  at  Hudson,  in  the  Reserve. 
This  seminary  labored  under  great  difficulties  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.     Its  students  at  one  time  numbered  about 


THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES.  319 

forty,  but  there  seemed  to  be  impediments  in  the  way  of 
complete  success — at  least  for  a  time  (1828). 

The  Presbyterians  of  Indiana  took  measures  (1828)  to 
promote  a  higher  education,  and  at  first  they  established 
a  classical  academy,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  John  F.  Crowe, 
and  which  afterward  grew  into  South  Hanover  College. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  its  earlier  days  a  large  ma- 
jority of  its  students  were  professing  Christians.  To 
this  college  was  added  in  1830  a  theological  department, 
in  which  Di'.  John  Matthews  was  unanimously  chosen 
Professor  of  Theology  by  the  Synod  of  Indiana,  and  Dr. 
Crowe  by  the  same  authority  was  appointed  second  Pro- 
fessor. 

Western  Seminary,  Allegheny. — The  lack  of  ministers 
still  continuing,  the  Presbyterians,  especially  of  Kentucky, 
desired  to  have  a  theological  seminary  modeled  after  that 
of  Princeton,  and  if  possible  located  within  their  own 
State.  The  matter  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  1825.  It  was  deemed  essential  by  all 
the  parties  concerned  that  the  prospective  seminary  should 
be  located  in  the  Great  Valley,  but  it  was  difficult  to  decide 
where  should  be  that  location.  After  much  discussion  in 
the  presbyteries  and  in  the  newspapers — religious  and 
secular — Allegheny,  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  was  chosen 
by  the  assembly  as  the  site  for  the  institution  (1827)  ; 
more  funds  could  be  secured  for  that  location.  That  posi- 
tion was  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  valley,  and  therefore 
it  did  not  meet  satisfactorily  the  wishes  of  the  more 
western  presbyteries,  and  measures  were  taken  to  have  a 
theological  seminary  located  further  west,  under  the  plea 
that  its  location  should  be  nearer  the  center  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Union  and  also  of  the  valley.  This  center  of 
population,  according  to  the  ti7'st  census,  in  1790,  was 
east  of  Chesapeake  bay,  near  the  thirty-ninth  parallel  of 
latitude.     It  has  moved  west  from  census  to  census,  and 


320  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

at  the  time  of  the  location  of  this  seminary  (1827),  was 
almost  directly  south  of  the  city  of  Allegheny,  and  near 
the  same  parallel.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  center  has 
thus  far  crossed  and  recrossed  the  thirty-ninth  parallel 
four  times.  The  census  of  1890  places  it  in  the  State  of 
Indiana,  at  a  point  about  fifty  miles  west  by  north  from 
Cincinnati,  and  not  far  from  the  same  line.  The  center 
of  the  territory  of  the  United  States — excluding  Alaska 
— is  near  Abilene,  Kansas,  and  also  near  the  thirty-ninth 
parallel.    {Four  Hundred  Years,  etc.,  p.  iog2.) 

The  result  of  this  agitation  was  the  founding  of  Lane 
Seminary  at  Walnut  Hills,  near  Cincinnati.  The  name 
was  given  in  gratitude. 

Lane  Seminary. — Two  brothers,  whose  name  was 
Lane,  residents  of  Boston,  gentlemen  of  intelligence, 
liberal  and  patriotic,  and  of  far-reaching  views,  on  visit- 
ing the  Great  Valley,  learned  of  the  religious  wants  of  its 
people.  Impressed  by  the  situation,  they  deemed  the  most 
feasible  means  to  supply  these  wants  would  be  a  theo- 
logical seminary,  where  young  men  seeking  the  ministry 
could  study  theology  among  the  people  for  whom  they  ex- 
pected to  labor.  The  Messrs.  Lane  were  Baptists,  and 
they  first  offered  the  funds  they  proposed  to  give  to  their 
own  denomination;  the  latter,  however,  was  not  prepared 
to  accept  the  proposition.  The  object  was  so  important 
in  their  view,  that  they  paid  the  Presbyteries  the  compli- 
ment of  offering  the  funds  to  them. 

This  institution,  as  originally  designed,  was  to  have  two 
departments — a  literary  and  theological.  The  former  was 
the  first  to  go  into  operation,  but  it  was  afterward  trans- 
ferred to  Miami  University,  over  which  Dr.  Robert  H. 
Bishop  then  presided.  The  theological  department  lan- 
guished for  lack  of  funds.  At  length  Mr.  Arthur  Tappan 
of  New  York  City  proposed  to  endow  a  professorship  of 
theology  if  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  should  be  appointed  to 


THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES.  32 1 

the  chair.  The  proposition  was  accepted,  and  Dr. 
Beecher,  then  in  the  height  of  his  influence,  was  installed, 
September,  1832. 

Religious  Condition  of  the  Great  Valley. — Previous  to 
this  time,  the  attention  of  American  Christians,  especially 
in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States,  had  been  drawn  to  the 
religious  conditions  of  the  Great  Valley.  Multitudes  were 
migrating  thither  from  the  States  east  of  the  Alleghanies, 
while  perhaps  as  many  were  pouring  in  from  Europe. 
About  twenty  years  previous  the  center  of  the  population 
of  the  Union  had  come  within  the  valley,  and  from  census 
tc  census,  was  steadily  advancing  westward — along  the 
thirty-ninth  parallel,  which  it  crossed  back  and  forth  four 
times — apparently,  the  time  was  not  far  distant  when 
here  would  be  also  the  center  of  the  political  influence  of 
the  Nation.  Far-seeing  minds,  both  in  Church  and  State, 
began  to  forecast  the  ultimate  outcome  of  the  movements 
of  these  energetic  and  ever-progressive  people.  Thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  church  members,  sad  to  say, 
who  came  from  other  States,  appeared  to  have  grown 
careless  in  respect  to  their  religious  vows.  To  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  East  came,  however,  the  cry  from  their  breth- 
ren in  the  valley,  who  were  still  faithful,  for  more  preach- 
ers of  the  gospel,  in  order  to  counteract  the  undue  influ- 
ence of  infidelity  and  irreligion.  In  addition,  was  a  great 
influx  of  immigrants  of  European  birth,  industrious  and 
frugal,  and  good  citizens,  but  the  majority  were  imbued 
with  the  indifference  so  characteristic  of  German  ration- 
alism, in  respect  to  the  essential  principles  of  Christianity. 
This  statement  applies  more  justly  to  Cincinnati  and 
vicinity  than  to  any  other  locality  of  the  valley. 

Such  was  the  state  of  religious  affairs  when  Dr. 
Beecher  entered  upon  his  duties  as  professor  in  Lane 
Seminary.  He  was  fresh  from  his  conflicts  in  Boston 
with  Unitarianism,  and  with  the  multiform  evils  of  in- 


32  2  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

temperance,  and  who,  by  his  boldness  of  speech  and  his 
impressive  personality,  was,  perhaps,  the  only  man  of  the 
time  that  could  effectually  withstand  the  pressure  of  the 
evils  then  prevalent  in  the  West.  lie  might  impress  his 
strong  individuality  upon  his  students  and  send  them 
forth  imbued  with  his  own  zeal,  if  not  with  his  pungent 
eloquence.  These  were  the  hopes  cherished  by  the  in- 
telligent Christians,  who  were  thus  able  to  appreciate  the 
religious  and  political  conditions  of  the  Great  Valley.  Nor 
were  they  disappointed  in  Dr.  Beecher  himself;  but  un- 
toward circumstances,  to  be  noted  further  on,  unfor- 
tunately, for  a  time,  retarded  the  onward  flow  of  his 
legitimate  influence. 

Seminary  at  Marysville. — The  Southern  and  Western 
theological  seminary  is  known  as  Maryville  College,  and 
is  located  at  that  place,  in  Blount  County,  East  Tennessee. 
It  was  under  the  control  of  the  synod,  and  was  do- 
ing a  good  work.  It  stood  isolated  from  any  similar 
institution  by  a  distance  of  400  miles  {see  Log  Col- 
leges, pp.  1 22-1  ^y),  and  yet  it  was  in  a  central  position, 
amid  an  estimated  population  of  two  millions.  Here  was 
adopted  the  manual  labor  system,  by  means  of  which  the 
individual  expenses  of  the  students  were  somewhat  re- 
duced by  their  earnings.  The  success  of  the  institution 
was  not  then  as  great  as  its  merits  seemed  to  justly  de- 
mand; it  has  since  grown  in  its  usefulness,  and  at  this 
writing  (1899)  its  students  of  all  classes  number  450. 

The  demand  for  more  ministers  pervaded  the  church 
in  the  Southwest,  and  the  Presbytery  of  Mississippi, 
though  comparatively  weak  in  financial  resources,  re- 
solved to  establish  a  theological  seminary  within  its 
bounds.  The  outcome  of  the  movement  was  not  as  in- 
tended, but  resulted  in  founding  Oakland  College,  in 
Claiborne  County  (1830),  which  did  good  service  in  the 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES.  323 

cause.     The  Rev.  Jeremjah   Chamberlain  was   Its  first 
president. 

Union  Seminary,  Virginia. — In  Southern  Virginia, 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  though  much  crippled  for 
funds,  for  a  number  of  years  had  been  strenuously  en- 
gaged in  its  appropriate  work.  At  length,  by  request  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  it  was  taken  under  the  care  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  1826.  The  celebrated  Dr.  John 
Holt  Rice  was  appointed  a  professor.  He  entered  upon 
his  duties  with  his  usual  energy,  and  soon  afterward  vis- 
ited the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York  in  order 
to  obtain  funds  to  place  the  institution  on  a  firm  basis. 
The  churches  of  the  former  city  gave  ten  thousand  and 
those  of  the  latter  thirty  thousand  dollars.  Within  the 
Synods  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  an  additional 
twenty  thousand  was  obtained. 

The  reader  will  observe  that  this  unusual  interest  in 
establishing  and  aiding  theological  seminaries  was  during 
c.  period  of  about  ten  years.  It  is  gratifying,  also,  to  note 
that  the  general  interest  in  this  subject  has  never  flagged 
since.  The  church  members  having  been  true  to  their 
traditions,  as  best  they  could,  have  gone  hand  in  hand 
with  the  presbyteries  in  furnishing  funds  for  providing 
and  sustaining  both  colleges  and  theological  seminaries. 
Collateral  with  these  movements  during  this  time  were 
special  efforts  made  to  aid  young  men  who  desired  to 
preach  the  gospel  in  securing  an  appropriate  collegiate 
and  theological  education. 

In  intimate  connection  with  the  theological  seminaries 
should  be  recognized  the  healthful  influence  exerted  by 
the  management  of  the  colleges  founded  within  the  Great 
Valley.  We  have  already  noticed  (p.  132)  two  academies 
or  schools,  the  precursors  of  two  colleges — Washington 
and  Jefferson — that  were  and  continue  to  be  prominent  in 
that  respect.    They  had  the  advantage  of  being  early  in 


324         A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

the  field,  commencing  their  career  as  soon  as  they  were 
needed  to  supply  the  educational  and  religious  wants  of 
the  settlers  in  that  fertile  region  of  which  Pittsburg  may  be 
deemed  the  center.  It  is  stated  on  good  authority  that  the 
number  of  graduates  from  Dr.  McMillan's  school  and 
afterward  from  Jefferson  College,  who  became  ministers 
of  the  gospel,  was  much  greater  in  proportion  than  any 
other  college  in  the  Union. 

Dr.  Matthew  Brown. — Entered  upon  the  presidency  of 
Jefferson  College  in  1822,  which  office,  because  of  declin- 
ing health,  he  resigned  in  1845.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
Dickinson  College  in  1795,  when  it  was  under  the  presi- 
dency of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Charles  Nisbet.  Presbyteri- 
ans owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  what  he  did  during 
these  twenty-two  years  in  the  promotion  of  education 
and  of  religion  within  the  college  itself  and  outside  that, 
indirectly,  for  the  advancement  of  their  own  church 
through  the  labors  of  the  students  whom  he  had  trained. 

What  was  the  secret  of  this  benign  influence?  In  his 
sphere  of  usefulness  as  president  of  the  college,  Dr. 
Brown  did  all  that  was  possible  under  the  circumstances 
for  the  promotion  of  genuine  scholarship,  while  in  his  re- 
lation as  pastor  of  the  students  he  was  peculiarly  suc- 
cessful. He  was  accustomed  to  visit  them  in  their  rooms 
and  pray  with  them;  within  a  few  weeks  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  college  session  he  would  visit  every  new 
student  and  learn  of  his  antecedents,  of  which  he  took 
note.  He  often  urged  the  older  students  to  meet  the  new 
ones  in  a  kindly  manner,  and,  as  he  expressed  it,  make 
them  feel  at  home.  In  consequence,  the  barbarous  and 
vulgar  custom  of  hazing  was  never  known  at  Jefferson. 

His  innate  fondness  for  young  persons  attracted  to  him 
all  the  worthy  students;  he  won  their  respect  by  the 
scholarship  that  he  manifested  in  his  department,  and  se- 
cured their  love  by  his  kindly  care,  so  blended  with  sym- 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES.  325 

pathy;  decided  in  character,  his  influence  was  an  ever- 
present  stimulant  for  the  best  students  to  labor  in  their 
respective  duties.  During  his  administration  of  twenty- 
two  years  there  were  eleven  revivals  of  religion  in  the 
college.  The  services  connected  therewith  were  held  at 
hours  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  regular  duties  of  the 
college — the  latter  he  never  would  relax.  His  theory  was 
that  regular  duties  faithfully  performed  were  not  a  hin- 
drance, but  rather  a  stimulant,  to  religion.  At  one  time 
during  his  presidency,  with  only  one  exception,  every 
student  in  the  college  was  a  professing  Christian.  Let 
results  testify.  During  Dr.  Brown's  presidency  seven 
hundred  and  seventy  students  were  graduated;  of  these, 
nearly  one-half  chose  the  gospel  ministry  as  their  pro- 
fession. That  this  spirit  thus  received  an  impulse  which 
still  prevails,  we  infer  from  the  fact  that  since  the  union 
of  the  two  colleges,  Jefferson  and  Washington,  in  1865, 
more  than  forty  per  cent,  of  the  graduates  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  sacred  office.  {Spragnc's  Annals,  IV., 
p  2^8.    President  Moffat's  Historical  Sketch,  p.  <?/.) 


XXXIV. 

Louisiana  Bought. 

The  acquisition  of  Louisiana  by  purchase  in  1803  had, 
in  a  business  way,  increased  the  interest  already  felt  by 
the  American  people  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi.  This  might  be  said  specially  of  those 
who  lived  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ohio,  who  now,  by  way  of  the  great  river,  had  free 
outlet  for  their  products  to  the  outside  world  and  to  the 
markets  on  the  Atlantic  slope.  These  products  were  car- 
ried in  huge  flatboats  down  to  New  Orleans,  and  there 
transferred  to  ships,  and  thus  taken  to  their  destination. 

This  lower  region  was  easy  of  access  by  means  of  the 
many  tributaries  to  the  main  river,  and  in  consequence, 
even  before  its  purchase,  quite  a  large  migration  had  gone 
thither.  Natchez  and  vicinity  being  an  attractive  locality, 
numbers  had  settled  there,  and  the  church  soon  began  to 
follow  these  settlers  with  a  preached  gospel.  The  re- 
ligious wants  of  the  people  of  these  distant  settlements 
had,  through  the  missionaries  to  the  Indians,  become 
known  to  the  Synods  of  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia,  since 
to  them,  because  of  their  location,  naturally  fell  the  super- 
vision of  these  missions.  The  Synod  of  the  Carolinas, 
therefore,  directed  the  Presbytery  of  Orange,  North  Caro- 
lina, to  ordain  James  Smylie  (1804)  as  a  missionary  to 
be  stationed  at  Natchez,  at  which  place  he  had  previously 
labored.  The  Rev.  James  Hall  of  North  Carolina,  a 
veteran  in  the  cause  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  South,  had 
also,  under  a  commission  of  the  General  Assembly  (1800) 


LOUISIANA.  BOUGHT.  327 

labored  in  Natchez  and  vicinity.  He  was  assisted  by  two 
other  brethren,  who  were  commissioned  by  the  Synod  of 
the  CaroUnas.  Here  were  estabhshed  the  first  Protestant 
missions  in  the  lower  Mississippi  valley — that  is,  below 
Vicksburg. 

Indian  Mission  in  the  Southwest. — Rev.  Joseph  Bullen 
was  sent  in  1799  by  the  New  York  Missionary  Society  to 
labor  among  the  Indians  of  the  Southwest  in  what  is  now 
the  State  of  Mississippi.  It  would  seem  that  the  Indians 
m  that  portion  of  the  country  had  been  hitherto  over- 
looked. Bullen,  on  his  journey,  visited  Rev.  Dr.  Gideon 
Blackburn,  who  was  then  a  pastor  at  Maryville,  East 
Tennessee.  The  latter  had  been  planning  to  send  the 
gospel  to  the  Cherokees,  and  now,  by  his  intercourse  with 
Bullen,  he  was  induced  to  put  forth  more  efforts  in  the 
enterprise.  He  laid  the  matter  before  the  Union  Presby- 
tery, of  which  he  was  a  member,  but  the  poverty  of  the 
people  was  an  almost  insuperable  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
the  project. 

Blackburn  was  a  commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly 
in  1803.  He  had  already  devised  the  outline  of  a  plan  to 
carry  the  gospel  to  the  Cherokee  Indians.  He  appeared 
before  the  committee  to  which  his  paper  was  referred, 
and  explained  to  it  the  importance  of  such  missionary 
effort  being  made,  and  also  demonstrated  the  feasibility  of 
the  plan.  In  the  end  he  secured  from  the  assembly  an  ap- 
propriation of  two  hundred  dollars  to  aid  in  support  of  the 
mission.  The  recommendation  of  the  assembly  enabled 
him  to  obtain  about  four  hundred  dollars  additional  among 
his  friends  in  East  Tennessee,  after  his  return  from  the 
meeting  of  the  assembly  in  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Blackburn  had  already  enlisted  in  its  favor  the 
Indian  agent  of  the  government,  Col.  Return  Jonathan 
Meigs,  while  the  President,  John  Adams,  also  sympa- 
thized with  the  movement  and  directed  Col.  Meigs  to  aid 


328  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  cause.  A  council  of  about  two  thousand  Indians — 
Cherokees  and  Creeks — was  held  and  the  proposed  plan 
of  giving  them  instruction,  such  as  is  given  to  the  children 
cf  white  men,  was  explained  to  them.  The  Indians,  after 
some  delay  in  consulting  among  themselves,  approved  the 
measure,  and  the  mission  was  commenced  in  1804.  Dr. 
Blackburn  labored  incessantly  in  the  cause,  practising 
great  self-denial  in  his  individual  exertions  and  con- 
tributing much  from  his  own  limited  means  toward  de- 
fraying the  necessary  expenses.  He  went  on  a  tour 
through  a  portion  of  the  South  in  order  to  obtain  funds, 
and  succeeded  to  the  amount  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars. 
The  following  year  (1805)  he  visited  the  North,  and  re- 
turned with  more  than  four  thousand  dollars,  all  of  which 
he  used  judiciously.  This  missionary  enterprise  was  en- 
tirely in  individual  hands,  and  was  thus  sustained.  It  had, 
however,  the  commendation  of  the  General  Assembly,  and 
was  effective  in  its  work  until  the  evil  influences  exerted 
by  the  War  of  1812  wrought  its  ruin. 

Indian  Missions  in  Georgia. — Some  years  later  (1817) 
the  missions  to  the  Cherokees  and  Creek  Indians  came 
under  the  care  of  the  American  Board.  The  latter  com- 
missioned the  Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury  to  labor  among 
them  as  missionary  and  teacher,  and  soon  after  the  Choc- 
taws  were  brought  within  the  influence  of  the  mission. 
The  chiefs  of  these  tribes  were  anxious  to  have  schools 
like  the  white  men.  The  location  chosen  for  the  mission- 
station  was  at  Brainerd,  thus  named  in  honor  of  the 
devoted  Indian  missionary.  The  mission  at  this  place 
largely  increased  in  the  number  of  pupils  and  also  in 
competent  teachers,  some  of  whom  were  laymen  with 
their  families,  to  give  instruction  in  civilized  domestic  life. 
For  some  reason  in  1822  the  mission  was  divided  and  the 
members  distributed  among  the  tribes.  The  number  of 
converts  in  the  course  of  years  led  to  the  organization  of 


LOUISIANA    BOUGHT.  329 

four  churches,  which  were  in  connection  with  Union  Pres- 
bytery, East  Tennessee. 

Removal  of  the  Indians. — For  twenty  years  the  good 
work  of  Christianizing  these  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
forest  had  gone  on  prosperously,  and  as  a  result  great 
numbers,  especially  of  the  younger  portion  of  their  several 
communities  had  adopted  civilized  modes  of  living.  A 
dark  cloud  of  misfortune  was  overhanging  this  prosperity. 
It  first  presented  itself  in  the  agitation  of  the  question  as 
to  the  removal  of  these  Indians  to  a  territory  beyond  the 
Mississippi.  This  cruel  and  unjust  measure  was  carried 
out  to  the  letter  in  1833- 1835.  The  State  of  Georgia  ob- 
tained possession  of  their  lands,  their  private  dwellings 
and  their  cultivated  farms  and  improvements,  at  a  price 
which  avarice  dictated — their  school-houses  and  church- 
buildings  went  to  ruin.  Their  missionaries.  Dr.  Elisar 
Butler  and  Rev.  S.  A.  Worcester  accompanied  them  to 
their  distant  and  wilderness  homes,  and  continued  to  labor 
for  their  good.  In  this  cruel,  illegal  and  arbitrary  apt 
the  President — Andrew  Jackson — disregarded  the  solemn 
treaties  of  the  government  with  these  Indians  and  the 
recent  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
in  their  favor.     (Four  Hundred  Years,  etc.,  p.  706.) 

Individual  Influence. — It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  in 
evangelical  work  in  the  South  that  individual  men  exerted 
more  personal  influence  than  individual  men  did  in  the 
North.  The  reason  for  this  statement  may  be  found  in  the 
general  intelligence  of  the  people  at  large,  being  much  less 
in  the  South  than  in  corresponding  classes  in  the  North. 
This  difference  in  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge 
among  the  Northern  people  was  owing  to  the  prevalence 
of  public  schools,  wherein  all  the  youth  were  made  read- 
ers, while  in  the  South  the  public  school  system,  as  it  was 
in  the  free-labor  States,  was  then  unknown,  and  none 
but  the  well-to-do  slaveholders  could  educate  their  chil- 
23 


330         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

dren.  Meantime,  the  great  mass  of  the  youth  in  that 
respect  were  woefully  neglected.  In  a  state  of  society  thus 
constituted,  it  was  reasonable  that  the  educated  man 
would  loom  higher  in  public  estimation  than  in  a  com- 
munity wherein  much  greater  intelligence  prevailed. 

Dr.  Charles  Coffin. — Among  the  most  devoted  and 
prominent  ministers  who  labored  in  East  Tennessee 
was  Charles  Coffin.  He  was  a  native  of  Newburyport, 
Mass.;  graduate  of  Harvard,  studied  theology  under 
the  direction  of  Dr.  Daniel  Dana  of  Ipswich,  and 
of  Dr.  Samuel  Spring  of  his  native  town.  When 
a  boy  he  was  remarkable  for  his  precocious  intel- 
lect, and  for  his  ardent  zeal  for  knowledge,  and  withal  for 
his  uprightness  of  character.  He  graduated  with  a 
high  reputation  for  his  proficiency  in  the  studies  prose- 
cuted in  the  college  course.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  1799  by  the  Essex  Middle  Association.  Not 
being  of  robust  constitution  and  his  usual  health  having 
been  impaired,  it  was  thought  best  for  him  to  undertake  a 
preaching  tour  in  the  South.  He,  in  consequence,  minis- 
tered for  a  season  to  a  small  Presbyterian  congregation 
in  Norfolk,  Virginia,  which  met  in  the  town-hall.  After- 
ward, he  traveled  on  horseback  southwest  through  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina,  finally  reaching  Greenville, 
Greene  County,  East  Tennessee.  For  a  season  he  preached 
in  that  region,  meantime  becoming  much  interested  in  the 
college  located  at  that  place,  and  in  its  prospective  use- 
fulness. Remaining  sufficiently  long  to  make  himself  fa- 
miliar with  the  situation,  in  relation  to  the  educational  and 
religious  wants  of  the  people,  he  returned  to  the  East  in 
order  to  enlist  the  benevolent  in  procuring  funds  for  the 
college  as  a  promising  field  of  great  usefulness. 

Obtaining  what  funds  he  could  as  an  endowment  of  the 
college,  he  came  back  to  Greenville,  and  identified  himself 
with  it  as  vice-president   (1805).     The  Rev.  Hezekiah 


LOUISIANA    BOUGHT  33 1 

Balch  being  president,  at  whose  death  Dr.  Coffin  was 
elected  his  successor  (1810).  Here  as  president  he  la- 
bored for  seventeen  years,  performing  the  duties  of  his 
office  with  great  efficiency,  when  he  was  called  to  the 
presidency  of  East  Tennessee  College — now  University  of 
Tennessee — at  Knoxville.  After  six  years  of  successful 
labor  his  health  failed  and  he  was  compelled  to  resign. 

During  all  these  years  he  was  remarkably  blessed  in  his 
preaching  and  building  up  churches ;  still  greater,  was  his 
benign  and  lasting  influence  over  his  students.  His  fine 
scholarship,  and  clear  judgment  and  decision  of  character 
commanded  this  respect,  while  his  amiable,  generous,  and 
courteous  manners  won  their  love.  "Even  to  old  age  his 
intellectual  energies  were  fresh  and  his  activity  scarcely 
abated.  Long  will  his  memory  live  in  the  region  in  which 
he  was  known  and  loved,  and  in  which  he  scattered  seed 
for  harvests  that  succeeding  centuries  will  reap."  ( G.  II., 
p.  206.)  The  Master  withdrew  him  from  his  work  at  the 
age  of  seventy-eight. 

Isaac  Anderson. — The  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Anderson  is  an- 
other minister  who  deserves  to  be  remembered  with  grati- 
tude by  the  entire  Presbyterian  Church,  as  well  as  his  con- 
temporary fellow-citizens  and  their  descendants,  for  whom 
he  labored  during  his  long  life.  Of  Scotch-Irish  descent, 
and  imbued  with  the  influence  of  the  traditions  of  the 
principles  for  which  his  ancestors  fought  at  the  siege  of 
Derry,  he  was  by  heredity  a  genuine  Protestant  of  the 
Presbyterian  type.  His  father,  a  farmer  of  Rockbridge 
County,  Virginia,  where  the  son  was  born,  migrated  in 
1799  to  Grassy  valley,  Knox  County,  East  Tennessee. 
The  son  was  then  nineteen  years  of  age,  but  the  year 
previous  he  had  consecrated  himself  to  Christ. 

He  had  studied  for  several  years  at  Liberty  Hall  Acad- 
emy, under  the  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  William  Graham,  cele- 
brated in  that  day  as  a  classical  teacher.    He  made  great 


332         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

proficiency  in  his  studies,  and  until  he  became  a  Christian 
his  intention  was  to  enter  the  legal  profession,  but  the 
cause  of  the  Redeemer  loomed  so  high  that  the  anticipa- 
tions of  future  distinction  in  that  line  vanished  in  com- 
parison with  the  importance  of  preaching  the  simple  gos- 
pel. In  preparing  for  the  ministry,  Rev.  Samuel  Carrick 
was  his  first  theological  instructor,  but  the  talented  pupil 
soon  outstripped  the  teacher,  and  began  to  ventilate  specu- 
lations which  at  that  time  Carrick  deemed  unorthodox, 
and  in  after  years  the  same  view  was  held  by  Anderson 
himself. 

Carrick  was  by  no  means  able  to  cope  with  the  meta- 
physical dogmas  of  Hopkinsianism — a  fruitful  theme  of 
controversy  in  that  day — as  presented  by  his  precocious 
pupil,  and  he  handed  him  over  to  Dr.  Gideon  Black- 
burn, then  at  Maryville,  Tennessee,  in  charge  of  a  church 
and  of  the  college.  Almost  at  their  first  interview  the 
instructor  and  the  pupil  entered  upon  a  discussion  of  the 
then  controversial  questions  of  theology.  This  friendly 
and  candid  discussion  lasted  long  into  the  night,  and 
ended  in  the  conviction  of  the  young  student  that  his 
theories  were  not  sound  according  to  the  scheme  of  the 
gospel  as  revealed  in  the  Word  of  God.  Afterward, 
Anderson  expressed  his  sentiments  by  saying  he  found  his 
"head  as  empty  as  a  barrel,"  and  "his  whole  system  of 
theology  completely  set  aside  and  utterly  demolished."  In 
due  time,  after  much  study  and  prayer,  he  came  to  look 
upon  the  views  of  Blackburn  as  "sound,  scriptural,  and 
true." 

Anderson  was  licensed  to  preach  by  Union  Presbytery 
in  April,  1802,  and  soon  after  was  installed  pastor  of 
Washington  Church.  Here  he  remained  nine  years.  He 
happened  to  own  a  farm,  perhaps  by  inheritance,  and  he 
cultivated  it  to  eke  out  the  pittance  of  a  salary  from  the 
church.     His  active  mind  was  ever  engrossed  on  sacred 


LOUISIANA    BOUGHT.  333 

themes,  and  he  preached  the  gospel  without  intermission, 
not  only  in  his  own  congregation,  but  arranged  for  making 
extensive  preaching  tours  throughout  that  region.  Never 
did  his  energy  flag  nor  his  self-denial  diminish. 

President  of  Maryville  College. — Nine  years  after  his 
licensure  (1811)  he  succeeded  Dr.  Blackburn,  who  was 
called  to  another  field,  and  finally  to  be  president  of  Centre 
College,  Kentucky.  In  his  new  position  at  Maryville,  Dr. 
Anderson  found  a  second  sphere  of  aiding  the  cause  of 
the  church.  It  was  suggested  by  the  spiritual  desolation 
that  prevailed  all  over  that  region,  and  the  impression 
seized  his  mind  that  the  only  remedy  was  in  providing 
more  ministers.  With  his  wonted  energy  and  Christian 
zeal  he  took  in  hand  to  supply  them.  He  had  no  material 
means,  but  he  had  an  inexhaustible  fund  in  his  trust  in 
God.  First  he  wrote  to  one  or  two  missionary  societies 
in  the  North ;  but  they  were  unable  to  send  him  preachers ; 
at  last,  driven  to  this  extremity,  he  determined,  putting 
his  trust  in  Providence,  to  do  what  he  could  himself. 
He  established  a  school  of  theology,  commencing  with  a 
class  of  five  (1819).  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
Southern  and  Western  Theological  Seminary,  now  known 
under  its  chartered  name,  Maryville  College.  The  motive 
of  the  founder  may  be  stated  in  his  own  words :  "Let  the 
directors  and  managers  of  this  sacred  institution  propose, 
as  their  sole  object,  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement 
of  that  Kingdom  purchased  by  the  blood  of  his  only  son," 

Dr.  Anderson  started  a  boarding-house  for  the  stu- 
dents, and  appointed  a  suitable  person  to  take  charge  of 
it,  meantime  becoming  himself  responsible  for  the  sup- 
plies. Students  absolutely  unable  to  pay  received  their 
board  gratis.  Oftentimes  he  did  not  know  how  he  could 
provide  for  his  score  or  more  of  students,  but  at  the 
critical  moment  the  aid  would  come.  Often  a  plain  Chris- 
tian farmer  would  drive  up  to  the  door  with  his  wagon 


334  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

loaded  with  provisions  as  a  gift  to  the  institution;  some- 
times the  merchant  of  his  merchandise  sent  appropriate 
articles;  others,  again,  at  the  proper  moment  sent  money. 
Thus  the  work  went  on;  but  we  cannot  go  into  detail. 
Let  it  suffice  that  Dr.  Anderson  by  these  his  exertions, 
in  the  course  of  forty-two  years,  sent  forth  about  one 
hundred  ministers  of  the  gospel,  nearly  all  of  whom  were 
Presbyterians.  At  this  writing  (1899)  this  institution  has 
about  450  students — male  and  female. 

The  personal  appearance  of  Dr.  Anderson  is  repre- 
sented as  being  very  imposing;  the  evidence  of  intellect 
was  stamped  upon  his  brow,  a  kindly  expression  of  coun- 
tenance accompanied  a  piercing  eye;  he  was  conciliatory 
in  his  manner,  and  impressed  his  hearers  from  the  pulpit 
and  his  students  in  the  class-room  with  his  Christian  sin- 
cerity of  purpose — as  such  he  was  venerated  and  loved. 
He  was  released  from  his  earthly  labors  at  the  age  of 
seventy-seven  (1857). 

James  White  Stephenson. — The  Rev.  James  White 
Stephenson  was  of  Scotch-Irish  parentage  and  a  native  of 
Virginia,  born  in  1756,  but  his  childhood  was  spent  in 
the  northern  portion  of  South  Carolina,  his  parents  having 
removed  thither.  It  is  not  known  definitely  where  he  re- 
ceived his  education,  but  that  he  had  a  classical  school 
near  the  North  Carolina  line,  and  tradition  tells  that 
Andrew  Jackson  was  one  of  his  pupils.  Stephenson  took 
an  active  part  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  afterward 
prepared  himself  for  the  ministry,  and  was  licensed  in  his 
thirty-third  year  by  the  Presbytery  of  South  Carolina  in 
1789.  He  at  once  entered  most  earnestly  upon  his  active 
duties,  and  his  ministry  was  remarkably  blessed.  He  was 
specially  diligent  and  prayerful  as  a  pastor,  and  soon  his 
congregation  became  imbued  with  a  similar  spirit. 

Migration  of  a  Congregation. — We  now  notice  a  move- 
ment similar  to  some  in  earlier  colonial  times,  as,  for  in- 


LOUISIANA    BOUGHT.  335 

stance,  when  Minister  Thomas  Hooker,  in  1636,  led  his 
congregation  from  near  Boston  through  an  unbroken  wil- 
derness to  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  (Four 
Hundred  Years,  etc.,  p.  115.)  Stephenson  became  much 
interested  in  the  great  field  for  missionary  work  in  the 
fertile  region  now  known  as  Middle  Tennessee.  Num- 
bers of  his  congregation  caught  his  spirit,  and  the  result 
was  that  under  his  lead,  in  1808,  a  caravan  consisting  of 
twenty  families  of  his  congregation  set  out  from  South 
Carolina,  and  after  much  toil  in  crossing  intervening 
mountains  and  making  their  way  through  the  wilderness 
and  partially  settled  regions,  reached  their  destination  in 
what  is  now  Maury  County,  Tennessee.  The  distance 
was  five  hundred  and  seventy  miles — more  than  four 
times  as  far  as  Hooker  led  his  congregation.  They  settled 
on  a  large  tract  of  land  which  had  been  given  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  General  Nathaniel  Greene,  in  recognition  of  his 
services  during  the  Revolution;  from  his  heirs  they  pur- 
chased their  homes. 

The  congregation  of  Dr.  Stephenson,  being  in  full 
sympathy  with  him,  entered  heartily  into  his  plans  of 
making  known  the  gospel  to  the  region  in  their  vicinity. 
His  church — Zion  congregation — was  in  connection  with 
the  Presbytery  of  West  Tennessee,  and  the  latter  with  the 
Synod  of  Kentucky.  The  members  of  the  congregation 
took  much  interest,  as  individuals,  in  giving  private  re- 
ligious instruction  to  the  colored  people  in  their  respective 
neighborhoods. 

They  also,  under  their  pastor's  leadership,  engaged  in 
practical  missionary  labors  among  the  Indian  tribes  with- 
in reach.  This  became  preeminently  a  Christian  colony 
under  the  fostering  care  of  the  pastor,  who  for  twenty- 
four  years  labored  and  exerted  a  remarkable  and  benign 
influence  upon  the  community  at  large,  till  in  his  seventy- 
sixth  year  death  ended  his  earthly  service  (1832). 


336         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH, 

Characteristic  Zeal. — It  was  characteristic  in  that 
early  day  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  of  Eastern 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  to  be  self-rehant  and  full 
of  zeal.  Gideon  Blackburn,  after  leaving  Maryville 
(1810),  we  find  him  the  following  year  at  Franklin, 
Middle  Tennessee,  where  he  remained  about  five 
years,  preaching  with  great  success,  meanwhile  having 
charge  of  Harpeth  Academy  and  a  number  of  theological 
students.  He  then  removed  to  St.  Louis  (1816),  where 
his  preaching  attracted  great  attention,  even  that  of  the 
Catholic  French  population.  It  is  related  that  a  promi- 
nent French  lady  was  much  affected,  and  attended  his  ser- 
vices regularly.  Her  priest  chided  her  because  she  wept 
under  his  preaching.  "You  never  weep  when  I  preach," 
said  he.  The  answer  was :  "If  you  will  preach  like  Mr. 
Blackburn,  I  will  cry  all  the  time." 

Dr.  William  W.  McLane,  in  his  sketch  of  Blackburn, 
says:  "It  was  as  a  preacher,  however,  that  he  was  spe- 
cially gifted.  His  commanding  presence,  his  benignant 
countenance,  his  sweet  and  silvery  voice,  his  graceful 
gestures,  and  his  fine  power  of  description  gave  him  the 
attention  of  his  audience  and  control  over  them."  He 
was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Louisville  in  1825;  then,  in  1827,  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Centre  College,  at  Danville,  Kentucky,  which 
he  resigned  in  1830,  being  succeeded  by  Dr.  John  C. 
Young. 

An  incident  in  Dr.  Blackburn's  early  ministry  illustrates 
one  phase  of  his  character.  A  slave,  John  Gloucester,  was 
converted  under  his  preaching,  who,  by  his  mental  gifts 
and  ardent  piety,  attracted  the  attention  of  Blackburn. 
The  latter,  thinking  he  might  be  of  great  use  to  his  race, 
bought  him  and  had  him  prepare  for  the  ministry. 
Gloucester  did  so,  and  was  licensed  and  ordained  by  the 
Union  Presbytery,  from  which  he  was  dismissed  in  1810 


LOUISIANA    BOUGHT.  337 

to  that  of  Philadelphia.  In  that  city  he  was  the  devoted 
pastor  of  the  African  church  till  his  death  in  1822. 
That  church  was  organized  through  the  special  influence 
of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander. 

Gloucester  commenced  as  a  missionary  to  his  own  peo- 
ple in  the  city.  He  had  musical  talent  of  a  high  order 
and  a  strong  and  sympathetic  voice.  For  a  time  he 
preached  in  private  houses  and  in  a  school-house.  In  fair 
weather  it  was  his  custom  to  take  his  place  at  the  corner 
of  Shippen  and  South  streets,  and  commence  singing  a 
hymn.  A  miscellaneous  crowd  would  soon  collect,  and 
then  he  would  preach.  He  won  by  his  prudence  and  fer- 
vent piety  the  confidence  of  his  brethren  of  the  presby- 
tery, and  of  the  entire  community.  The  means  were  sub- 
scribed and  a  church  building  was  erected  on  the  corner 
of  the  streets  where  he  used  to  preach.  In  addition,  money 
was  supplied  by  friends  in  England  and  at  home  to  pur- 
chase the  freedom  of  his  family — he,  himself,  having  been 
freed  by  Blackburn  long  before. 


XXXV 

New  Orleans — The  Towns  along  the  River. 

The  People  of  New  Orleans. — New  Orleans  was  at  that 
time  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  most  diffi- 
cult fields  in  the  Union  for  missionary  cultivation. 
The  original  population  was  peculiarly  heterogeneous, 
and  as  it  had  quite  recently  come  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States,  the  mass  of  the  people  were  unac- 
quainted with  American  institutions.  The  French  portion 
were  nominally  Roman  Catholic,  but  not  deeply  imbued 
with  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity ;  some,  the  more  devout, 
went  to  mass  in  the  forenoon  of  the  Sabbath,  in  the  after- 
noon desecrated  the  sacred  day  in  amusements  of  doubt- 
ful morality.  Another  class — the  boatmen — free  from  the 
restraints  of  Christian  influence  of  their  surroundings  up 
the  river,  were  easily  tempted  to  indulge  in  gambling  and 
sensual  vices.  To  these  were  added  the  many  sailors  on 
shore  from  ships  that  represented  almost  every  port  in 
the  world.  The  population  was  also  very  unstable  in  its 
numbers;  at  one  portion  of  the  year,  the  busy  season,  it 
was  about  twice  that  of  the  dull  season.  The  stated  popu- 
lation was  in  1804  about  eight  thousand,  and  in  1820  it 
was  more  than  twenty-seven  thousand.  So  many  of  the 
people  being  only  temporary  residents  was  of  itself  a  great 
impediment  to  the  successful  preaching  of  the  gospel  and 
founding  Christian  institutions.  In  addition,  the  moral 
evils  incident  to  the  War  of  1812  apparently  exerted  more 
influence  in  New  Orleans  than  in  any  other  place  in  the 
Union. 


NEW   ORLEANS — THE   TOWNS   ALONG   THE   RIVER.        339 

Elias  Cornelius. — The  Connecticut  Missionary  Society 
1816  sent  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  to  make  a  missionary  tour 
in  the  Southwestern  States,  but  specially  enjoined  him  to 
visit  New  Orleans.  His  instructions  were  to  inquire  into 
the  moral  conditions  of  the  city,  while  preaching  as  oppor- 
tunity served.  He  found  only  one  Protestant  church  in 
the  place — an  Episcopal.  He  invited  the  Congregation- 
alists  and  the  Presbyterians  that  happened  to  be  in  the 
city  temporarily,  or  who  were  permanent  residents,  to  join 
him  in  religious  services,  and  to  aid  in  establishing  a 
church.  Cornelius  was  indefatigable  in  his  labors,  in  car- 
rying out  his  instructions  and  in  preaching  every  Sabbath. 
He  secured  a  cabin  of  a  ship  and  there  preached  to  a  con- 
gregation of  sea  captains  and  sailors,  and  often  during  the 
week  conversed  with  the  latter  personally.  He  visited 
the  hospitals  in  which  were  many  seamen ;  he  noticed  the 
neglected  condition  of  these  inmates  and  suggested  reme- 
dies for  the  evils  present,  many  of  which,  in  consequence, 
were  removed.  He  also  preached  to  and  taught  a  congre- 
gation of  colored  people,  numbering  about  two  hundred. 

Sylvester  Lamed. — On  January  22,  1818,  Cornelius 
was  joined  by  Rev.  Sylvester  Earned,  a  student  of  Prince- 
ton, who  had  been  appointed  to  assist  him  in  the  mission. 
The  two  labored  together  diligently  for  three  months,  and 
succeeded  in  establishing  the  first  Presbyterian  church  in 
the  city.  Cornelius  then  left  for  another  sphere  of  useful- 
ness. 

The  brilliant  young  preacher  captivated  all  hearts,  and 
the  people  came  forward  promptly  and,  under  the  circum- 
stances, contributed  liberally  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a 
suitable  building,  whose  corner-stone  was  laid  a  few  days 
less  than  a  year  after  the  arrival  of  Earned.  The  latter,  in 
his  eloquent  manner,  manifested  the  greatest  zeal  in  the 
cause,  while  all  his  movements  were  guided  with  discre- 
tion, so  that  he  seemed  to  be  specially  fitted  for  the  posi- 


340  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

tion,  but,  sad  to  say,  his  usefulness  was  cut  short  by  a 
premature  death. 

Religious  Condition  of  Towns  along  the  River. — The 
moral  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  along  the 
river  from  Vicksburg  down  was  in  many  respects  similar 
to  that  of  New  Orleans.  There  was  a  large  population  of 
temporary  residents  at  certain  seasons,  when  the  flat- 
boats  from  the  upper  country  floated  down  with  their  car- 
goes of  produce.  The  crews  of  the  latter  were  for  the 
most  part  indifferent  to  the  claims  of  the  gospel  while 
here,  but  which  they  recognized  more  when  at  their  homes. 
The  permanent  residents  had  been  so  much  neglected  by 
the  denominations  in  the  East  and  the  North  that  they, 
too,  were  in  a  sad  condition.  There  were  good  Christian 
men  among  these  residents  who  meant  well  when  they 
essayed  to  preach  on  their  own  responsibility,  but  they 
were  so  illiterate  as  to  fail  in  attracting  the  attention  of 
the  more  intelligent  permanent  residents,  while  they  re- 
pelled the  temporaries  who  had  been  accustomed  to  hear 
an  educated  minister  at  their  native  homes.  The  settle- 
ments up  the  Red  river  in  Louisiana  were  in  a  similar 
moral  condition,  if  we  accept  the  account  of  a  writer  who 
says :  "The  population  of  Natchitoches  was  a  conglom- 
erate of  various  tongues  and  creeds — Americans, 
French,  Spaniards,  Indians,  and  negroes;  Roman  Catho- 
lics, Protestants  of  different  kinds,  deists,  infidels,  and 
heathen." 

Samuel  Royce. — To  such  communities  the  Connecticut 
Missionary  Society  sent  the  Rev.  Samuel  Royce  (1817). 
He  made  his  journey  thither  on  a  missionary  tour,  and  as 
opportunity  served  he  preached  to  congregations  that 
were  destitute.  He  was  then  only  a  licentiate,  and  as  such 
connected  himself  with  the  Presbytery  of  Mississippi.  He 
commenced  his  labors  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  opposite 
Baton  Rouge,  on  ground  "never  trodden  before  by  a 


Rev.  Charles  Hodge,  D.  D. 

(165,  499-) 


NKW    ORLEANS THE    TOWNS    AI.()N(;    THE    RlVllK.         34 1 

Protestant  minister;"  that  is,  one  who  was  properly  edu- 
cated for  the  office. 

Mr.  Roycc  was  ere  long  invited  to  Alexandria,  on  the 
Red  river,  and  there  he  settled.  Here  he  was  almost 
entirely  isolated  from  ministerial  friends,  as  there  was 
scarcely  a  brother  minister  within  a  hundred  miles.  He 
labored  incessantly,  after  making  missi(jnary  tours 
through  the  adjoining  region.  Great  numbers  of  his 
hearers  had  never  before  heard  a  Protestant  sermon.  In- 
fidelity abounded,  the  French  type  of  which  seemed  a  sort 
of  epidemic,  extended  by  means  of  immigrants,  many 
from  Kentucky.  Now  and  then  he  was  cheered  when 
he  happened  to  be  cordially  received  by  Christian  men  and 
women,  who  had  migrated  thither  from  homes  that  were 
within  reach  of  gospel  privileges.  He  said:  "Their  coun- 
tenances and  tears,  more  than  words,  revealed  emotions 
easier  to  imagine  than  to  express."  Here,  as  far  as  we 
know,  Mr.  Royce  spent  his  ministerial  life. 

Educational  Society. — Dr.  Klias  Cornelius  was  ap- 
pointed in  1826  secretary  of  the  American  Educational 
Society,  which  was  located  at  I'oston.  The  following  year 
the  American  and  the  Auxiliary  Educational  Society, 
which  was  I'resbyterian  and  in  New  York,  were  united 
under  the  name  American,  and  three  years  later  (1830) 
the  offices  of  the  general  society  were  transferred  to  the 
latter  city,  since  its  location  was  more  central  in  respect 
to  the  country  at  large. 

The  labors  of  Cornelius  were  remarkably  successful, 
especially  in  New  York  City,  where  his  presence  seemed 
to  inspire  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  with  his 
own  consecrated  enthusiasm.  The  influence  spread  be- 
yond individuals,  and  some  churches  came  forward  and 
proposed  at  their  own  expense  to  educate  a  number  of 
young  men  for  the  ministry.  Interest  in  the  cause  grad- 
ually penetrated    other    and    distant    portions    of    the 


342         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

church,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  greatly  increase  auxil- 
iary societies  and  their  contributions;  the  latter,  in  due 
time,  were  doubled  and  also  in  proportion  the  number  of 
the  candidates,  which,  within  two  years,  reached  more 
than  two  hundred.  The  society,  because  of  its  new  loca- 
tion and  of  its  many  auxiliaries,  secured  the  prestige  of 
being  national  in  its  character,  as  we  have  seen  was  the 
case  of  the  other  benevolent  societies.  The  hearts  of  all 
Christians  who  appreciated  the  significance  of  the  situa- 
tion rejoiced. 

The  assembly's  Board  of  Education  had  not  been  nearly 
so  successful,  as  many  of  the  contributions  of  its  own 
churches  were  drawn  off  to  the  society,  which  had  re- 
cently become  national  in  its  character,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, its  facilities  for  usefulness  were  thought  to  be 
greater,  and,  moreover,  both  were  evangelical  in  doctrines 
and  designs.  The  time  had  not  yet  come  when  in  num- 
bers, wealth,  and  influence,  any  one  denomination  could 
become  national  in  its  character;  that  is,  extend  its 
benevolent  efforts  to  all  portions  of  the  Nation. 

The  American  Board. — On  the  same  line  the  American 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  had  acted,  and  also  had  been 
so  admirably  managed  in  every  respect  as  to  secure  the 
confidence  of  the  Presbyterians  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Congregationalists,  and  in  consequence  to  it  the  former 
gave,  for  the  most  part,  their  contributions.  The  Board 
had  recently  introduced,  in  addition  to  the  monthly  con- 
cert of  prayer,  the  custom  of  preparing  papers  containing 
accounts  of  the  current  progress  of  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions in  foreign  lands,  and  which  were  published  in  the 
Missionary  Herald.  This  information,  so  new  and  fresh, 
by  its  diffusion,  roused  an  unusual  interest  in  the  subject 
among  intelligent  Christians,  especially  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church. 

The  organization  known  as  the  New  York  Missionary 


NEW   ORLEANS — THE  TOWNS  ALONG   THE   RIVER.        343 

Society  blended  with  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, and  under  the  latter  name  a  plan  of  union  was  pro- 
posed with  the  American  Board.  The  General  Assembly 
of  1826  favored  such  union,  though  a  respectable  minority 
did  not  heartily  sanction  the  movement.  The  tide  of 
influence  at  that  time  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  seemed 
in  a  measure  to  run  in  favor  of  voluntary  missionary  asso- 
ciations rather  than  in  denominational.  The  United  For- 
eign Missionary  Society  was  a  voluntary  association,  and, 
of  course,  was  not  in  direct  connection  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  though  the  members  of  the  latter,  by  their 
contributions,  largely  sustained  its  operations.  At  that 
time,  the  necessities  of  the  foreign  field  seemed  to  require 
the  union  of  the  efforts  of  the  two  denominations  most 
interested  in  the  cause — the  Congregational  and  the  Pres- 
byterian. This  increased  interest  in  missions  to  the 
heathen  was,  evidently,  the  outgrowth  of  revivals  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  sections  of  the  country  in  which  these  soci- 
eties had  more  specially  their  home,  and  the  tendency  was 
to  utilize,  as  much  as  possible,  the  concentrated  facilities 
of  the  American  Board  for  carrying  on  the  work,  which 
had  already  been  well  organized. 

The  American  Board  took  proper  measures  to  enlighten 
the  church  members  on  the  subject  of  its  work  in  the 
foreign  field  by  means  of  the  Missionary  Herald.  As  the 
churches  thus  learned  of  the  trials  and  the  success  of  these 
missions,  they  were  induced,  in  view  of  their  own  respon- 
sibility, to  aid  the  cause  by  their  contributions.  As  out- 
growths of  this  interest,  many  local  missionary  societies 
became  auxiliary  to  the  American  Board;  one  or  two  of 
these  were  as  far  South  as  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

The  Action  Ex  Officio. — Meanwhile,  there  was  an  un- 
dercurrent of  thought  in  the  minds  of  many  influential 
men  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  that  the  denominations, 
as  such,  should  be  ex  officio    missionary  societies.     In 


344  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

after  years  this  theory  began  to  be  recognized  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  voluntary  system,  though  for  the  present 
the  latter  appeared  to  be  the  more  expedient.  In  due 
time,  the  denominations  having,  respectively,  increased 
greatly  in  the  numbers  of  their  church  members  and 
also  proportionately  in  wealth,  took  up  the  missionary 
cause,  virtually,  ex  officio,  and  the  results  have  been  grand. 
Their  church  members  and  ministers,  under  these  new 
conditions,  began  to  realize  as  individual  denominations, 
their  responsibility  in  the  cause  more  vividly  than  was 
possible  for  them  to  do  in  connection  with  mixed  or  vol- 
untary associations.  The  several  denominations  thus  en- 
tering independently  into  the  missionary  field,  has  no 
doubt,  as  facts  prove,  advanced  the  cause  throughout  the 
world  much  more  than  if  they  had  continued  to  act  as 
auxiliaries  to  a  vast  voluntary  association,  though  it  con- 
ducted its  work  in  the  best  manner  that  intelligent  Chris- 
tian and  self-denying  men  could  devise.  This  result  can 
be  accounted  for  on  the  principle  that,  on  entering  upon 
separate  mission  work,  these  denominations  assumed 
a  certain  responsibility,  the  influence  of  which  became  so 
diffused  as  to  reach  the  individual  church  members,  and 
thus  the  whole  body — the  rank  and  file  and  leaders — 
became  imbued  with  the  same  spirit  and  desire  to  sustain 
the  cause. 


XXXVI. 

Numerous  Revivals. 

For  several  years,  commencing  in  1827,  there  were 
many  revivals  in  Presbyterian  churches  throughout  the 
Union.  These  awakenings  were  more  local  than  univer- 
sal, yet  there  was  an  awakened  interest  in  nearly  all  the 
churches,  some  more  decisive  than  others,  during  this 
period,  and  great  numbers  on  professing  their  faith  united 
with  the  church.  Within  the  bounds  of  several  presbyter- 
ies in  the  State  of  New  York  occurred  a  number  of  reviv- 
als; this  was  specially  the  case  in  those  whose  bounds 
included  the  City  of  New  York  and  up  the  Hudson  to 
and  beyond  Troy.  Many  of  the  churches  in  the  city  were 
blessed  with  powerful  revivals.  More  than  a  thousand 
persons  were  added  to  the  churches,  and  mostly  on  the 
profession  of  their  faith  (1829).  The  blessed  influence 
extended  to  the  western  portion  of  the  State  and  per- 
vaded the  churches  to  an  unprecedented  extent.  The  in- 
terest felt  was  so  great  that  the  secular  press  for  the  first 
time  often  noticed  the  meetings  and  the  progress  of  such 
spiritual  awakenings.  This  marked  work  of  grace  con- 
tinued among  the  churches  of  that  region  for  several 
years.  The  religious  services  were  conducted  with  great 
zeal,  and  sometimes  measures  were  introduced  that  after- 
ward appeared  to  have  been  of  doubtful  utility,  but  the 
good  results  far  overbalanced  the  evil  of  the  injudicious 
measures. 

During  this  period  other  sections  of  the  country  were 
visited  by  the  blessed  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  in 
24 


346         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Eastern  New  Jersey  and  in  Pennsylvania.  Such  was 
strikingly  the  case  in  Philadelphia,  where  a  number  of 
churches  enjoyed  scenes  of  spiritual  refreshing,  and  many 
hundreds  within  a  year  or  two  were  added  to  the  churches 
on  examination.  These  revivals  extended  toward  the 
West,  and  within  the  bounds  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg 
many  of  the  churches  had  seasons  of  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  In  these  seasons  there  seemed  to  be  a 
deep  pervading  religious  influence  that  impressed  itself 
not  merely  upon  the  Christians  but  threw  a  shade  of 
solemnity  over  the  non-professors  who  came  in  contact 
with  the  churches. 

Revivals  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois. — The  State  of 
Ohio  was  also  visited,  and  many  churches  were  specially 
awakened  in  different  portions  of  the  State,  but  more 
especially  in  the  City  of  Cincinnati  and  vicinity.  The 
revivals  in  the  city  itself  were  greatly  promoted  by  the 
labors  of  two  evangelists,  Revs.  James  Gallaher  and 
Frederick  Ross,  who  came  from  amid  revival  scenes  in 
Kentucky  in  order  to  aid  the  several  pastors  of  the  city 
at  the  request  of  Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson,  pastor  of  the 
First  Church.  These  evangelists  also  made  preaching 
tours  throughout  the  State,  and  were  greatly  blessed  in 
their  labors.  They  were  characterized  as  most  admirably 
qualified  for  their  special  work.  Within  the  year  1828 
there  were  added  to  the  First  Church,  alone,  on  pro- 
fession of  their  faith,  three  hundred  and  sixty-four.  Dur- 
ing the  same  time  revivals  were  progressing  in  ten  neigh- 
boring churches,  in  which  great  numbers  were  converted 
and  connected  themselves  with  these  churches.  The  same 
influence  extended  to  the  interior  of  the  State,  and  nearly 
thirty  towns  and  villages  are  mentioned  in  the  reports 
to  the  presbyteries,  where  revivals  prevailed  during  this 
period,  and  altogether  thousands  professed  to  be  con- 
verted and  joined  the  churches.     To  accommodate  the 


NUMEROUS   REVIVALS.  347 

multitudes  who  were  interested  in  these  religious  services, 
the  Presbyterians  held  camp-meetings.  The  first  one  being 
under  the  direction  of  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati,  was 
held  in  the  vicinity  of  that  city.  Others  were  held  at 
different  times  and  places,  and  were  attended  by  thou- 
sands, and  the  preachers  were  very  successful  in  present- 
ing the  gospel  to  multitudes  who  perhaps  seldom, 
if  ever,  went  to  the  ordinary  church.  The  meetings  were 
conducted  with  proper  decorum,  though  it  was  charged 
that  questionable  methods  were  sometimes  introduced. 
Great  numbers  professed  to  have  experienced  a  change 
of  heart  and  on  examination  were  admitted  to  church 
membership.  Leading  Presbyterian  clergymen  in  the  city 
and  State  took  an  active  part  in  conducting  these  serv- 
ices. These  revivals,  so  general  in  their  characteristics, 
extended  into  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  great 
numbers  of  Presbyterian  churches  scattered  over  these 
States  were  visited  by  seasons  of  spiritual  blessings, 
though  the  churches  therein,  for  the  most  part,  were 
comparatively  feeble  in  point  of  the  number  of  their  mem- 
bers respectively. 

Revivals  in  Kentucky,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia. — 
The  revivals  were  not  limited  to  the  States  north  of  the 
Ohio,  but  passed  to  the  south,  and  Kentucky  was  greatly 
blessed.  The  benign  influence  was  specially  felt  in  the 
towns  of  Paris,  Lexington,  Danville,  and  other  places  of 
note.  Conversions  in  the  State  were  numbered  by  thou- 
sands. "The  whole  aspect  of  society  [in  some  localities] 
was  changed;  vices  before  prevalent  and  unblushing  al- 
most entirely  disappeared."  For  more  than  two  years  this 
interest  in  religious  subjects  continued  in  the  State.  Pro- 
tracted meetings  were  held  in  numerous  places  through- 
out the  country,  in  order  to  accommodate  the  attending 
thousands.  The  individual  churches  shared  in  these 
blessings  and  great  numbers  in  the  aggregate  were  con- 


348         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

verted.  The  Synod  of  West  Tennessee,  in  their  narrative 
of  religion  in  1827,  said:  "Never  before  has  there  been  in 
the  same  length  of  time,  so  much  attention  given  to  the 
means  of  grace,  or  so  many  additions  to  the  church  as 
during  the  last  year." 

The  same  spiritual  influence  spread  still  further 
throughout  that  southern  portion  of  the  Union,  it  also 
crossed  the  mountains  toward  the  East,  and  reached  the 
States  on  the  South  Atlantic  slope,  the  Carolinas  and 
Georgia.  In  the  latter  a  striking  instance  occurred  in  the 
college,  now  the  University  of  Georgia,  at  Athens.  Pre- 
viously there  was  not  known  to  be  a  single  professing 
Christian  among  the  students,  when  in  1822  seven  of  them 
undertook  the  Christian  work  of  establishing  a  Sunday- 
school  and  to  hold  prayer-meetings.  Five  years  later  in 
the  institution  commenced  a  revival  of  religion  among  the 
students,  and  which  pervaded  the  entire  vicinity.  Presby- 
terian camp-meetings  were  held  in  dififerent  places  in  the 
State,  which  were  attended  by  immense  numbers,  and 
hundreds  were  added  to  the  various  churches.  Says  a 
writer  (1828)  who  was  conversant  with  these  scenes: 
"I  hear  daily  of  hundreds  being  added  to  the  churches, 
and  of  thousands  inquiring  for  the  bread  of  life."  As 
an  outcome,  a  large  number  of  new  churches  were  organ- 
ized within  the  State,  and  the  missionary  spirit  received 
a  new  and  strong  impulse,  and  in  consequence  a  domestic 
missionary  society  was  formed. 

South  Carolina  also  participated  in  the  blessings  of 
these  revivals,  and  in  that  State  great  numbers  of  the 
churches  enjoyed  seasons  of  spiritual  refreshings.  Pres- 
byterian camp-meetings  were  also  held  to  which  flocked 
thousands  from  the  neighboring  regions,  numerous  con- 
versions were  confessed,  while  multitudes  were  apparently 
deeply  impressed.  The  meetings  of  the  presbyteries  were 
largely  attended,  and  in  consequence  the  precious  influ- 


NUMEROUS    REVIVALS.  349 

ence  extended  far  and  wide.  North  Carolina  for  a  time 
seemed  to  be  passed  by,  when  in  1828  the  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit  came  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  the  faithful. 
The  synod  of  that  year  reported  the  admission  of  about 
four  hundred  to  church  membership  within  its  bounds, 
and  likewise  an  increase  in  the  numbers  of  the  ministers 
of  the  gospel. 

Revivals  in  Virginia. — The  blessed  influence  also 
reached  Virginia,  and  revivals  commenced  in  many  of  the 
churches  connected  with  the  several  presbyteries.  Such 
was  the  case  in  the  churches  in  the  tidewater  region,  as 
in  Norfolk,  Williamsburg,  and  others  in  that  vicinity. 
Quite  a  number  of  the  churches  more  in  the  interior,  as 
those  connected  with  the  famed  Presbytery  of  Hanover, 
were  also  blessed  by  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
evangelist.  Rev.  Asahel  Nettleton,  whose  labors  had 
been  so  much  blessed  in  the  State  of  New  York,  at  the 
special  request  of  Dr.  John  Holt  Rice,  visited  Virginia. 
In  connection  with  his  labors  a  number  of  revivals  com- 
menced, principally  in  Prince  Edward  County,  while  the 
influence  reached  the  neighboring  congregations,  and  in 
the  end  extended  far  and  wide  throughout  the  State. 

The  Sabbath — Sunday  Mails. — For  a  number  of  years 
the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  had  increased  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  arrest  the  attention,  especially  of  the  religious 
portion  of  the  Nation,  including  all  denominations.  The 
moral  aspects  of  the  subject  were  discussed  extensively  in 
the  newspapers  and  in  meetings  of  the  people  called  for 
the  purpose.  In  order  to  remedy  the  evil  the  national 
government  in  Jackson's  first  administration  was  urged 
by  numerous  petitions  to  use  its  influence  in  the  cause 
of  good  morals,  by  refraining  to  carry  the  mails  on  the. 
Sabbath.  There  were,  also,  counter  petitions  presented 
by  those  who  had  no  sympathy  for  preserving  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  day.     In  the  lower  house  of  Congress  these 


35°         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

petitions  were  referred  to  a  committee  of  which  Richard 
M.  Johnson  of  Kentucky  was  appointed  chairman.  This 
committee  made  a  report  in  1830.  It  is  not  our  intention 
to  point  out  in  detail  the  fallacies  of  this  report,  nor  the 
sneering  innuendoes  against  the  petitioners. 

The  Famous  Report. — The  report  had  unequivocal  in- 
ternal evidence  that  Johnson  did  not  write  it.  Dick — as 
his  intimates  called  him — never  on  any  other  occasion 
gave  evidence  that  he  had  been  a  Sunday-school  scholar 
or  a  learner  in  a  Bible  class,  but  his  report  bristled  with 
Biblical  and  theological  criticisms  on  the  Sabbath  laws  of 
the  Israelites,  and  so  on  down  through  the  Christian  ages 
to  the  finishing  sentence  of  the  document.  For  a  long 
time  the  Hon.  Amos  Kendall  had  the  popular  credit  of 
writing  this  report,  but  in  his  autobiography  he  denies 
the  charge  and  says  the  writer  was  a  Baptist  minister  at 
whose  house  Johnson  was  boarding  at  the  time. 

The  animus  of  that  report  may  be  inferred  from  the  fol- 
lowing sentence:  "So  far  from  stopping  the  mails  on 
Sunday,  the  committee  would  recommend  the  use  of  all 
reasonable  means  to  give  it  greater  expedition  and  a 
greater  extension."  The  italics  in  this  sentence  are  the 
committee's.  The  report  was  received  and  adopted  by 
the  House  and  the  committee  discharged. 

The  report  made  the  assertion  that  if  the  government  on 
moral  grounds  refrained  from  carrying  the  mails  on  Sun- 
day, as  the  petitioners  had  asked  it  to  do,  "that  Congress 
in  so  doing  would  be  legislating  upon  a  religious  subject, 
and  therefore  the  act  would  be  unconstitutional,"  as  it 
would  be  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  union  of  Church 
and  State! 

When  this  report  was  published,  a  righteous  indigna- 
tion, such  as  was  never  known  before,  burst  forth  from 
the  entire  Christian  portion  of  the  American  people.  This 
protest  and  condemnation  were,  however,  treated  with 


NUMEROUS   REVIVALS.  35 1 

contempt.  The  composition  of  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  that  House  of  Representatives,  and  of  many- 
successive  ones,  was  such  as  to  discourage  for  a  genera- 
tion efforts  to  secure  a  better  observance  of  the  sacred 
day  by  the  national  government. 

Ratio  of  Represjentation. — The  General  Assembly  in 
1826  modified  the  ratio  of  its  members.  By  the  rule 
adopted,  that  each  presbytery  consisting  of  less  than 
twelve  ministers  was  entitled  to  send  one  minister  and 
one  elder  as  delegates  or  commissioners;  if  a  presbytery 
had  more  than  twelve  ministers,  it  could  send  to  the 
assembly  two  ministers  and  two  elders. 

The  General  Assembly  has  always  been  accustomed 
from  year  to  year  to  keep  abreast  with  the  movements  of 
the  age,  and  to  give  its  influence  in  favor  of  benevolent 
societies  and  of  those  designed  to  promote  good  morals. 
In  1826  it  commended  to  its  churches  the  interests  of  the 
Colonization  Society;  in  1827  it  encouraged  the  temper- 
ance reformation,  and  approvingly  noticed  the  American 
society  for  the  promotion  of  that  cause;  in  1828  lotteries 
were  unequivocally  condemned;  and  since  they  were  in 
some  States  sanctioning  by  law,  they  were  characterized 
as  "legalized  gambling." 

Statistics  of  the  Church. — The  increase  of  the  church 
during  four  years — 1827- 1830,  inclusive — may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  number  of  presbyteries  organized  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  churches,  and  for  the  convenience  and 
advantage  of  having  frequent  intercourse  between  the 
ministers  and  the  representatives  of  the  church  members 
— the  eldership.  The  number  of  presbyteries  thus  erected 
was  twenty-two.  As  the  boundaries  of  not  one  of  these 
remain  the  same  to-day  as  they  were  originally,  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  record  their  names.  During  the 
years  mentioned  above,  and  for  similar  reasons,  were 
formed  five  synods ;  these  were  West  Tennessee,  Indiana, 


352  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Utica,  Mississippi,  and  Cincinnati.  The  membership  of 
the  churches  increased,  meanwhile,  from  "about  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  thousand  in  1826  to  about  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  thousand  at  the  close  of  1830."  The 
reader  will  perceive  that  this  increase  was  on  an  average 
of  nearly  fourteen  thousand  a  year.  It  is  proper  to  re- 
mark that  as  a  general  rule  these  numbers  do  not  repre- 
sent a  perfectly  accurate  account,  as  churches  sometimes 
failed  to  report  the  number  of  their  respective  numbers 
to  the  presbyteries. 


XXXVII. 
Societies — Church — Colleges. 

Home  Missions. — As  has  been  already  noted,  the  mis- 
sionary societies,  foreign  and  domestic,  or  home,  includ- 
ing the  assembly's  board  and  the  Connecticut  Society, 
and  also  the  educational,  were  formed  previous  to  1820, 
and  had  become  virtually  national  in  the  scope  of  their 
operations.  From  that  time  forward  home  missionary 
work  was  conducted  in  connection  with  these  societies 
and  without  special  friction  till  near  the  division  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  1838.  Much  attention  during 
this  period  was  given  to  the  field  designated  in  missionary 
work  as  the  Northwest  and  West,  thus  including  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Missouri.  The  ter- 
ritory of  the  latter  was  then  the  most  populous  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  St.  Louis  being  a  center  for  trade  and  its 
most  important  town. 

[Numbers  of  preachers  of  the  gospel  were  sent  by  these 
societies,  who  supplied  as  best  they  could  the  churches 
throughout  that  region,  then  but  sparsely  settled,  except 
at  certain  locations.  In  some  of  the  latter  churches  had 
become  self-supporting,  while  the  others  were  so  scat- 
tered and  feeble  in  the  number  of  their  church  members 
that  they  were  unable  to  sustain  settled  pastors.  Mean- 
while the  character  of  the  population  was  continually 
changing,  because  of  the  influx  of  immigrants,  some  of 
whom  came  from  the  Eastern  States  and  others  from 
foreign  lands.  The  southern  portion  of  these  States  bor- 
dering on  the  north  shore  of  the  Ohio  had  large  acces- 


354         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

sions  from  beyond  that  river.  Most  of  the  latter  did  not 
wish  to  bring  up  their  families  amid  the  demoralizing 
influences  of  slavery,  especially  upon  the  inner  life  of  the 
people.  Unfortunately,  as  a  general  rule,  the  latter  im- 
migrants were  not  as  intelligent  as  those  who  founded 
settlements  in  the  middle  and  northern  portions  of  these 
States.  The  people  of  the  slave-labor  States  never  had 
the  advantages  of  public  schools,  while  they  were  only 
partially  trained  to  support  the  ordinances  of  the  church 
and  gospel.  On  the  other  hand,  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
even  before  Missouri  became  a  State  (1821)  but  much 
more  afterward,  because  she  held  slaves  and  had  a  very 
fertile  soil  and  fine  climate,  an  immense  migration  moved 
thither  from  the  slave  labor  States,  not  from  Kentucky 
alone,  but  especially  from  Eastern  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas ;  they  could  take  with  them  their  slaves,  and  to  better 
their  condition  they  bid  farewell  to  their  exhausted  fields. 
Organising  Churches. — In  giving  the  gospel  to  these 
destitute  Territories  and  States  the  missionaries  found 
only  a  few  centers  of  influence  in  which  to  concentrate 
their  efforts,  but  they  had  to  pass  from  settlement  to 
settlement,  and  preach  to  the  people  thus  scattered  abroad. 
They  often  met  those  who  in  the  homes  of  their  youth 
had  enjoyed  religious  privileges;  these  settlers  always 
welcomed  the  preachers  of  the  gospel.  The  latter,  often 
taking  these  professing  Christians  as  a  nucleus,  and  when 
the  conditions  warranted  the  movement,  organized  a 
church.  Churches  being  thus  established,  the  mission- 
aries visited  them  in  turn.  Some  of  these  churches  soon 
became  self-supporting,  as  when  undter  favorable  cir- 
cumstances two  or  three  would  combine  and  sustain  a 
pastor.  The  detail  in  giving  an  account  of  the  founding 
of  individual  churches  would,  alone,  require  a  volume, 
and  therefore  we  give  only  the  salient  points,  and  indeed 
the  reader  woud  find  such  recollections  rather  monoto- 


SOCIETIES CHURCH COLLEGES.  355 

nous,  as  they  are  very  similar  in  almost  every  respect. 

The  first  Presbyterian  church  in  Indiana  was  organized 
at  Vincennes  in  1806,  ten  years  before  the  Territory  be- 
came a  State.  The  first  resident  minister  was  Rev. 
Samuel  Thornton  Scott,  who  came  from  Kentucky  and 
preached  in  that  church.  In  the  years  immediately  suc- 
ceeding a  number  of  licentiates  and  ordained  ministers 
were  sent  to  that  region  by  the  General  Assembly  to  fill 
missionary  appointments  of  different  lengths  of  time,  and 
were  assigned  to  special  districts  in  order  to  reach 
as  many  as  possible  of  the  people.  These  ministers  trav- 
eled on  horseback  throughout  the  Territory,  and  after- 
ward the  State,  visiting  and  preaching  in  the  numerous 
isolated  settlements  of  that  time. 

Father  Dickey. — Rev.  John  M.  Dickey,  of  Irish  de- 
scent, a  native  of  South  Carolina,  found  his  way  into  Ken- 
tucky and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Muhlenberg 
Presbytery.  He  visited  Indiana  in  1814  as  a  missionary; 
after  remaining  one  year  and  exploring  the  region  as  a 
field  for  Christian  effort,  he  made  arrangements  to  bring 
his  family  and  settle  therein  permanently.  When  we 
read  of  his  trials  and  those  of  his  family,  we  get  a 
glimpse  of  similar  ones  endured  by  other  ministers  labor- 
ing in  the  same  region.  He  settled  over  a  church  at  the 
forks  of  White  river,  near  where  now  is  the  town  of 
Washington.  The  cost  of  the  ferriage  over  the  river  for 
his  family  and  furniture  was  fifty  cents  more  than  the 
money  in  his  possession.  His  salary  was  fifty  dollars  a 
year  for  half  his  time ;  the  other  half  he  devoted  to  volun- 
teer missionary  work  in  destitute  places  or  churches ;  for 
this  labor  he  scarcely  received  enough  to  defray  his  trav- 
eling expenses.  In  order  to  eke  out  a  support  for  his 
wife  and  children  he  often  had  recourse  to  manual  labor, 
and  sometimes  he  gave  instruction  in  vocal  music.  His 
district  or  "Presbyterian  diocese"  was  in  area  about  six- 


356         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

teen  miles  by  ten.  He  thus  labored  on  with  unflagging 
zeal ;  once  he  changed  his  location  to  a  more  destitute  dis- 
trict near  Lexington,  Scott  County,  and  finally  became 
pastor  of  two  churches  located  further  south  and  nearer 
the  Ohio  river.  During  the  twenty-five  or  thirty  years 
of  ministerial  labor,  he  was  instrumental  in  gathering  a 
large  number  of  churches  which  in  due  time  were  organ- 
ized. He  was  the  sixth  minister  to  enter  that  field  of 
settlements  so  heterogeneous  in  character,  and  which  were 
then  almost  entirely  destitute  of  gospel  privileges.  He 
was  ever  diligent  in  the  work,  and  in  the  end  it  prospered 
to  such  an  extent  that  within  the  State  he  saw  presby- 
teries and  synods  organized  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
church.  His  indefatigable  labors  were  crowned  with  suc- 
cess, and  thus  encouraged,  he  labored  on  till  the  infirmities 
of  age  forbid.  It  was  no  wonder  that  the  people  affec- 
tionately called  him  "Father  Dickey,"  as  he  had  a  claim 
more  than  any  other  man  to  be  recognized  as  the  father 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Indiana.  (G.,  II.,  p.  3p6.) 
The  Immigration  of  Farmers — Mr.  Derrow. — In  1816 
Rev.  Nathan  B.  Derrow,  who  under  a  commission  from 
the  Connecticut  Society  had  been  laboring  for  seven  years 
in  the  Western  Reserve,  left  that  field  under  a  missionary 
appointment  of  the  same  society  to  preach  in  Indiana  and 
Illinois,  then  Territories  but  soon  to  become  States.  He 
found  the  field  inviting  because  it  was  quite  destitute  and 
the  people  willing  to  hear  the  gospel.  Great  numbers  of 
immigrants  were  pouring  in ;  these  were  principally  farm- 
ers who  desired  to  secure  homes  for  their  families.  An 
unusual  number  of  these  settlers  were  illiterate,  especially 
in  the  southern  portion,  and  scarcely  a  book  was  to  be 
found  in  their  cabins.  "In  a  large  number  of  instances 
extreme  indigence  was  connected  with  extreme  ignorance. 
When  tracts  were  presented  by  the  missionary,  he  was 
asked  to  read  them  by  those  who  declared  they  could  not 


SOCIETIES — CHURCH — COLLEGES.  35  7 

read  themselves."  There  also  prevailed,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, a  roving  and  restless  disposition  on  the  part  of  some, 
who,  instead  of  clearing  the  virgin  soil  and  living  per- 
manently on  their  own  cultivated  farms,  preferred  to  be 
on  the  move  toward  the  frontier,  as  if  neighbors  were 
an  annoyance.  As  the  country  became  more  densely  set- 
tled, greater  portions  of  the  land  were  brought  under  cul- 
tivation, and  this  roving  class  either  settled  down  or  dis- 
appeared. Mr.  Derrow  accomplished  an  immense  amount 
of  ministerial  work  by  traveling  throughout  the  country 
and  preaching.  He  organized  a  number  of  churches  and 
was  cheered  in  his  labors  by  an  increasing  attention  on 
the  part  of  the  people  to  hear  the  gospel. 

The  Time  of  Commission  Limited. — The  missionaries 
usually  had  an  appointment  for  half  a  year,  and  also  to 
each  one  a  district  was  assigned  by  the  committee  of  the 
association  by  which  they  were  commissioned.  The  Rev. 
Orin  Fowler  was  sent  in  1818  by  the  Connecticut  Society 
to  labor  for  six  months  in  Indiana.  He  was  directed  to 
visit  some  ten  counties  in  the  middle  and  eastern  portion  of 
the  State.  In  relation  to  this  region  which  he  had  ex- 
plored, he  reported  that:  "The  people  were  anxious  to 
hear  the  Word  preached,'^  and  that  urgent  requests  were 
pressed  upon  him  almost  daily  to  visit  and  preach  to  as- 
semblies or  congregations,  that  would  hear  him  gladly. 
The  interest  manifested  was  so  great  that  the  news  of  his 
approach  was  spread  far  and  wide,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
people  coming  ten  miles  or  more  to  hear  a  sermon.  Dur- 
ing the  period  of  his  appointment,  Mr.  Fowler  felt  war- 
ranted in  organizing  only  two  churches,  a  number,  how- 
ever, had  been  previously  thus  established  in  these  coun- 
ties by  other  missionaries,  but  in  the  entire  State,  at  that 
time,  not  one  appears  to  have  been  able,  alone,  to  sup- 
port a  settled  pastor. 

The  main  portion  of  the  population  of  this  new  State 


358  A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

was  in  its  eastern  section,  and  in  the  southern  part,  border- 
ing on  the  Ohio,  and  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  its  tributaries, 
that  of  the  Wabash  securing  the  larger  share.  A  limited 
number  of  immigrants  had  come  into  this  southern  region 
from  Ohio,  but  comparatively  few  from  the  Northern 
States.  The  latter,  for  climatic  reasons,  were  more  in- 
clined to  migrate  due  west.  On  the  parallels  of  latitude  to 
which  they  were  accustomed  in  their  native  homes. 

There  had  been  a  number  of  missionaries  sent  into  the 
State,  some  of  whom  were  commissioned  by  the  General 
Assembly,  and  others  by  the  Connecticut  Missionary  So- 
ciety, but  only  for  a  limited  time,  scarcely  ever  longer 
than  six  months;  the  lack  of  funds  had  much  to  do  with 
these  short-time  appointments.  In  1820  there  were  only 
seven  Presbyterian  ministers  in  the  State,  and  only  two  of 
these  were  settled  pastors.  Soon  ofter  this  time  the  popu- 
lation commenced  to  increase  very  rapidly.  An  immense 
immigration  of  settlers  came  in  and  with  the  intention  of 
being  permanent  residents.  These  were  mostly  from  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  States. 

The  Church  at  the  Capital. — Indianapolis,  then  a  small 
village,  had  become  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  in  con- 
sequence the  number  of  its  inhabitants  began  to  increase. 
Here,  in  the  summer  of  1821,  was  preached  the  first  ser- 
mon by  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  that  to  a  very  small 
congregation.  The  following  year,  commencing  in  May, 
the  Rev.  David  C.  Proctor.,  a  missionary  sent  by  the  Con- 
necticut Society,  preached  a  few  sermons  and  then  left, 
but  returned  the,  following  autumn  and  began  his  labors 
for  a  year.  In  July,  1823,  he  organized  a  church  of  fifteen 
members;  after  three-fourths  of  a  year's  service — the 
other  fourth  being  given  to  a  church  at  Bloomington 
about  seventy  miles  distant — Mr.  Proctor  was  called  to 
another  field,  and  the  following  year  the  Rev.  George 
Bush  commenced  to  supply  the  church,  which  he  did  for 


SOCIETIES — CHURCH — COLLEGES.  359 

several  years.     Afterward  Mr.  Bush  became  professor 
in  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Rev.  Isaac  Reed,  a  native  of  Granville,  New  York 
State,  a  graduate  of  Middleburg  College,  commenced  in 
1818  his  work  as  stated  supply  for  a  year  at  New  Albany. 
The  church  numbered  thirteen  members,  but  within  a  year 
the  number  increased  to  thirty-five,  and  a  Sabbath-school 
— the  first  in  the  State — was  organized  and  soon  had  sixty 
scholars  in  attendance.  The  population  was  nearly 
eight  hundred.  A  great  moral  change  was  brought 
about  through  the  influence  of  the  gospel.  The  Sabbath 
was  previously  desecrated,  being  a  sort  of  half  holiday, 
the  stores  for  the  most  part  were  kept  open,  but  now  they 
were  closed.  Mr.  Reed  appears  to  have  been  commis- 
sioned by  the  Connecticut  Society,  but  for  some  reason  it 
did  not  give  pecuniary  aid  to  the  church  in  New  Albany, 
and  the  latter,  not  being  able  to  support  a  pastor,  Mr. 
Reed,  for  thfft  reason,  removed  to  Kentucky.  Three 
years  afterward  he  returned  and  had  partial  charge  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  at  Indianapolis,  and  later  (1824) 
became  pastor  of  Bethany  Church  in  Owen  County.  The 
latter  was  a  new  enterprise,  and  Mr.  Reed  with  his  own 
hands  prepared  the  logs  for  his  parsonage;  he  states  that 
winter  was  coming  on,  and  his  neighbors  were  too  busy 
with  their  own  preparations  to  aid  him  except  in  raising 
or  putting  the  logs  in  place,  which  he  was  unable  to  do 
with  his  own  strength.  Thus  was  put  up  the  rude  log- 
cabin,  one  story  high,  and  the  openings  between  the  logs 
above  the  joint-plates  where  the  roof  rested  were  unfilled 
with  clay  or  plastering,  when  the  family  moved  in  to 
enjoy  Christmas  in  their  new  home.  This  rude  hut  the 
devoted  missionary  in  his  letters  styled  "the  Cottage  of 
peace."  Mr.  Reed  has  done  the  church  a  service  by  giving 
a  graphic  account  of  the  trials  of  these  missionaries,  their 
wives,  and  their  families,  and  also  a  general  sketch  of 


360         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  country  and  the  churches,  in  a  book,  entitled  "The 
Christian  Traveler." 

Notwithstanding  his  self-denying  labors  Mr.  Reed  was 
forced  within  a  few  years  to  give  up  the  "Cottage  of 
peace,"  and  seek  another  settlement  because  of  a  lack  of 
support,  as  he  had  not  received  one  dollar  in  money  for 
two  years.  We  cannot  adequately  realize  what  must 
have  been  the  trials,  even  the  sufferings  of  the  self-deny- 
ing wives  and  families,  of  those  devoted  servants  of  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

Number  of  Churches  and  Ministers. — The  population 
of  the  State  of  Indiana  was  estimated  in  1825  at  200,000. 
The  number  of  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
churches  was  only  forty-three,  while  the  number  of  their 
ministers  was  ten;  one-half  of  whom  were  settled  pastors, 
the  other  were  missionaries  under  appointment  from  the 
societies.  One  of  the  hindrances  to  the  spread  of  the  gos- 
pel was  the  baleful  influence  of  New  Lights  and  Dunk- 
ards,  which  prevailed  in  neighborhoods  wherein  the 
people  were  grossly  ignorant.  When  the  gospel  and  edu- 
cation came  hand  in  hand  these  errorists  began  to  disap- 
pear and  are  now  virtually  extinct,  though  in  the  days  of 
which  w^e  speak  they  were  a  power  for  evil. 

The  destitution  continued  very  great,  and  yet  under 
the  circumstances  much  progress  had  been  made,  as  was 
manifested  in  the  better  moral  tone  in  general  society. 
Immigrants  were  still  crowding  in,  many  of  whom  were 
careless  in  respect  to  religion.  Sabbath-breaking  pre- 
vailed to  a  certain  extent,  while  profanity  seemed  to  be 
everywhere,  and  intemperance,  the  handmaid  of  many 
vices,  was  almost  unblushing,  and  gambling  was  com- 
mon. 

From  1825  onward  to  1837  there  is  nothing  special  to 
note,  but  the  cheering  fact  that  the  churches  grew  in 
number  and  prospered.     Missionaries  continued  to  fill 


SOCIETIES — CHURCH — COLLEGES.  361 

their  appointments  in  many  settlements,  and  individual 
churches  were  organized  and  became  self-supporting  and 
local  centers  of  influence.  Thus  was  laid  wide  and  deep 
the  foundation  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  State  of 
Indiana,  as  we  now  see  it,  in  its  educational  and  religious 
institutions. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Indiana  had  in  1837  sixty- 
nine  ministers  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  churches, 
while  the  church  membership  was  nearly  five  thousand. 
It  must  be  confessed  that  numbers  of  individual  churches 
were  feeble  and  were  not  self-supporting.  Many  of  the 
sixty-nine  ministers  were  missionaries  and  traveled  in 
their  allotted  districts,  and  served,  as  they  were  able,  the 
churches  as  stated  supplies,  while  others  became  pastors 
in  the  growing  towns  and  the  more  densely  populated 
portions  of  the  agricultural  districts. 

Missionaries  in  Illinois. — The  first  recognition  of  Illi- 
nois as  a  separate  field  for  missionary  labor  was,  in  18 16, 
two  years  before  the  Territory  became  a  State.  Hitherto 
the  Societies  had  connected  it  in  their  operations  with 
Indiana,  which  took  the  lead  at  first  in  population.  With 
Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists,  education  in  all 
its  bearings  went  hand  in  hand  with  home  missions. 
Thus  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Ellis,  a  Presbyterian  missionary, 
realized  the  importance  of  founding  a  college  in  the  new 
State  of  Illinois  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion, whose  parents  were  coming  in  and  forming  set- 
tlements. When  he  had  been  a  missionary  for  two  years 
he  began  to  enlist  the  sympathy  of  his  fellow  members 
of  the  Presbytery  Center  of  Illinois,  to  aid  him  in  the 
undertaking.  The  latter  body  deputed  Mr.  Ellis  in  1828 
to  visit  the  East  and  lay  his  plan  before  the  benevolent. 
The  design  was  to  move  cautiously,  and  first  to  establish 
an  academy,  which  might  eventually  become  a  college. 
Mr.  E^Hs  visited  New  Haven  and  also  the  City  of  New 
25 


362  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

York;  in  the  latter,  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed sympathized  with  the  object  and  responded  quite 
Hberally.  With  the  funds  thus  obtained,  buildings  were 
erected  and  the  following  year  the  institution,  in  that  re- 
spect, was  ready  for  pupils. 

Illinois  College. — How  remarkable  are  the  providential 
ways  in  which  benevolent  purposes  are  carried  out!  At 
this  very  time  seven  young  men — Yale  theological  stu- 
dents— had  been  impressed  with  the  idea  that  it  would 
be  a  sphere  of  great  future  usefulness  to  go  as  mission- 
aries to  Illinois,  and  in  time  found  in  that  growing  State 
a  college  that  should  become  a  center  of  good  influence. 
Rumor  was  continually  telling  of  its  beautiful  prairies 
and  exceedingly  fertile  soil,  all  ready  for  the  plow  of  the 
husbandman  and  for  prosperous  settlements.  To  avail 
themselves  of  these  natural  treasures,  as  well  as  a  fine 
climate,  an  immense  migration  of  desirable  people  was 
crowding  in  to  become  citizens  of  this  garden  of  the 
West. 

The  names  of  these  young  men  were  Mason  Grosvenor, 
John  F.  Brooks,  Elisha  Jenney,  William  Kirby,  Asa 
Turner,  J.  M.  Sturtevant,  and  Theron  Baldwin.  They 
pledged  themselves  to  God  and  to  one  another,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  that  pledge  they  all,  on  the  completion  of 
their  theological  course,  migrated  to  the  State — except 
Grosvenor,  whose  poor  health  forbid  his  going — and 
became  missionaries  and  settled  in  different  places,  but 
within  reach  of  one  another.  They  had  inquired  by  letter, 
and  thus  became  familiar  with  the  plans  of  Mr.  Ellis,  and 
exerted  their  influence  in  favor  of  the  college.  Three 
other  ministers  were  on  the  ground,  and  with  them,  six 
of  these  young  men  were  named  trustees  in  the  charter, 
which  established  Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville,  in  that 
State. 

In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  note  the  founding 


SOCIETIES — CHURCH — COLLEGES.  363 

of  another  institution  of  learning  in  the  State.  Dr. 
Gideon  Blackburn,  after  his  resignation  of  the  presidency 
of  Center  College  in  Kentucky,  removed  in  1833  ^^ 
Illinois,  on  the  invitation  of  some  gentlemen  interested 
in  the  cause  of  education.  He  here  directed  his  energies 
to  establish  a  theological  seminary.  The  outcome  was 
the  founding  of  Blackburn  University  at  Carlinsville,  Illi- 
nois. By  its  charter  it  offers  a  regular  college  course  of 
instruction,  and  also  one  in  theology.  After  five  years  of 
labor  in  the  enterprise,  death  in  1838  ended  the  useful  and 
active  life  of  Gideon  Blackburn,  in  his  sixty-sixth  year. 
He  left  as  a  legacy  to  the  church  two  sons — successful 
ministers. 


XXXVIII. 
The  Relation  of  Churches  to  Certain  Presbyteries. 

The  reason  has  already  been  given  {See  p.  222)  why 
the  settlements  in  Northern  Kentucky,  bordering  on  the 
Ohio  river,  were  formed  so  rapidly.  Meanwhile,  because 
of  the  easy  accessibility  by  the  same  river  settlements 
were  as  rapidly  established  on  its  north  shore  and  up  the 
valleys  of  its  tributaries.  Thus  the  southern  portions  of 
the  now  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  were  first 
occupied  by  enterprising  immigrants  who  floated  in  flat- 
boats  down  the  river  from  Western  Pennsylvania  and 
Eastern  Ohio.  These  pioneers  occupied  in  time  promi- 
nent points  from  Marietta  down  to  and  beyond  Cincin- 
nati. The  Presbyterian  ministers,  who  were  among  the 
first  to  visit  these  settlements,  came  across  the  river  from 
Kentucky.  And  when  churches  were  organized  and 
needed  the  care  of  a  presbytery,  it  was  more  convenient 
because  more  accessible,  for  these  churches  to  be  con- 
nected with  the  Presbyteries  and  the  Synod  of  Kentucky, 
than  with  those  in  Western  Pennsylvania  or  Northern 
Ohio.  We  find  that  this  rule  prevailed  until  the  number 
of  churches  and  the  increase  of  population  warranted  the 
formation  of  presbyteries  and  synods  on  the  north  side  of 
the  river. 

In  those  early  days  of  Christian  work  there  was  much 
inconvenience  incident  to  the  proper  supervision  of  the 
churches  by  the  presbyteries.  For  illustration,  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Center  Illinois  was  in  connection  with  the 
Synod  of  Kentucky,   and  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri, 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     365 

which  had  a  number  of  churches  under  its  care  in  lUinois, 
was  itself  connected  with  the  Synod  of  Tennessee.  The 
bounds  of  the  Presbytery  of  Washington,  which  was 
erected  in  1799,  out  of  that  of  Transylvania,  Kentucky, 
was  divided  by  the  Ohio  river,  and  on  its  north  side  in- 
cluded the  churches  of  the  territory,  taking  the  town  of 
Cincinnati  as  a  center.  The  Synod  of  Kentucky  was 
formed  in  1802;  the  churches  in  that  region  had  been, 
hitherto,  under  the  care  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia.  Of 
the  churches  of  Illinois,  some  were  connected  with  the 
Presbyteries  of  Transylvania  and  Muhlenburg,  in  Ken- 
tucky, while  others  were  under  supervision  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Missouri.  These  various  arrangements  had  no 
influence  upon  the  missionary  societies :  the  Presbyterian 
Board,  the  Connecticut  Society,  the  Home  Missionary 
and  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  of  New  York, 
and  minor  associations.  These  all  sent  their  missionaries 
to  fill  appointments  for  Christian  work  in  these  new  set- 
tlements, wherever  needed;  to  preach  and  establish 
churches,  and,  if  opportunity  served,  to  become  settled 
pastors,  stated  supplies,  resident  missionaries,  or  evan- 
gelists. The  missionaries  themselves  acted  in  harmony 
with  the  societies  and  with  one  another;  sometimes  they 
were  permitted  to  exercise  their  own  judgment,  and  if 
one  found  a  field  occupied  he  would  go  to  a  more  desti- 
tute district.  They  utilized  every  facility  to  carry  the 
gospel  to  all  the  settlements,  and  thus  the  work  went  on, 
meanwhile  the  population  was  increasing  by  immigration, 
and  the  people  were  becoming  more  stable  in  their  habits, 
cultivated  farms  increased  rapidly,  and  towns  were  fast 
coming  into  existence. 

The  Presbytery  of  Salem,  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  was 
erected  in  1823.  It  consisted  of  nine  members,  and  had 
under  its  care  most  of  the  churches  of  the  State.  The 
number  of  the  latter  continued  to  increase,  but  they  were 


366         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

SO  much  scattered  that  in  1825,  in  order  to  secure  for 
them  closer  supervision,  the  Presbytery  of  Salem  was 
divided,  and  from  the  original  two  presbyteries  were  set 
off — Wabash  and  Madison — and  on  the  same  line,  the 
following  year  the  Synod  of  Indiana  was  organized. 
Afterward  with  the  latter  synod  was  connected  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Center  Illinois  (1828).  The  boundaries  of 
these  presbyteries  and  synods  were  arranged  as  a  matter 
of  convenience,  and  not  in  respect  to  the  State  or  terri- 
torial lines.  The  Presbytery  of  Missouri,  which  was 
erected  in  1818,  had,  seven  years  later,  nearly  one-half 
the  churches  under  its  care  across  the  Alississippi  in  the 
State  of  Illinois,  while  it  was  itself  connected  with  the 
Synod  of  Tennessee.  Five  years  later  the  churches  in 
Illinois  belonging  to  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri  were 
set  off  to  another  within  the  State.  These  changes  were 
continually  going  on  in  consequence  of  the  increase  of 
population  and  the  corresponding  increase  of  churches. 
Why  the  Interest  in  Missouri? — The  new  State  of  Mis- 
souri elicited  an  unusual  interest  in  missionary  opera- 
tions. This  was  owing  to  its  location,  it  being  then  the 
most  important  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  occu- 
pied by  American  citizens.  St.  Louis  had  been  for  years 
the  starting  point  and  the  fitting-out  place  of  the  com- 
panies of  French  and  other  fur  traders,  who  went  across 
the  plains  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  to  the  North- 
west, now  known  as  the  States  of  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton. An  effort  was  made  by  Rev.  Dr.  E.  S.  Ely  (noted 
elsewhere,  see  p.  254.)  to  found  a  college  in  1834  in  the 
village  of  Marion,  the  intention  being  to  meet  the  ex- 
pected wants  of  the  youth  of  the  x\merican  immigrants 
who  were  so  rapidly  occupying  this  much-lauded  region. 
After  the  labors  of  years  by  a  number  of  eminent  men, 
and,  as  it  seems,  injudicious  expenditure  of  large  funds, 
the  enterprise  was  abandoned.    The  settlers  were  mostly 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     367 

from  the  slave-labor  States,  and  brought  with  them  their 
slaves.  For  obvious  reasons  these  people  took  very  little 
interest  in  an  advanced  education,  which  they  were  really 
unable  to  appreciate,  and  in  addition  the  financial  troubles 
of  1837  gave  the  finishing  touch  to  the  ruin.  The  fertile 
soil  and  fins  climate,  and  the  advantage  of  being  adjacent 
to  navigable  rivers  and  in  a  central  position,  was  unable 
to  cope  with  the  negative  influence  of  the  lack  of  general 
intelligence  at  that  time  prevailing  among  the  early  in- 
habitants of  Missouri. 

Religious  Character  of  St.  Louis. — The  town  of  St. 
Louis,  originally  settled  by  the  French,  was  the  largest 
in  the  territory  and  a  center  of  traffic,  but  a  very  diffi- 
cult missionary  field  to  cultivate.  Here  were  great  num- 
bers of  French  people,  who  were  Catholics  and  hostile 
to  the  Protestants,  or  indifferent  to  any  religion,  what- 
ever. In  addition,  the  boatmen  up  and  down  the  rivers, 
when  on  shore,  often  spent  their  time  in  gambling  and 
drinking,  while  the  streets  were  in  a  continual  turmoil 
of  traders  to  the  Indians,  who  were  absorbed  in  disposing 
of  their  furs  or  fitting  themselves  out  for  new  expeditions. 
The  Sabbath  day  was  almost  unknown,  and  yet  in  St. 
Louis  were  a  fev/  Christians  who  had  come  from  the 
older  States,  and  longed  for  the  gospel  privileges  of  their 
native  homes.  Protestant  ministers  were  rarely  seen  and 
seldom  heard  preach;  an  itinerant  Methodist  minister 
had  preached  in  the  town  perhaps  once  a  month — this  was 
in  1816.  As  far  as  reported  by  Mr.  Giddings  and  other 
missionaries,  there  were  at  that  time  only  three  Presby- 
terians in  the  town.  The  general  morals  of  the  territory 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  Sabbath  was  dese- 
crated everywhere,  and  given  up  to  idleness  and  pleasure, 
one  form  of  the  latter  was  horse-racing,  a  custom  im- 
ported from  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  One  illustration 
may  suffice:  The  Rev.  Mr.  Flint  on  one  occasion  was 


368  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

announced  to  preach  on  a  certain  Sunday  at  the  town  of 
St.  Charles.  When  he  arrived  at  the  building  in  which 
he  was  to  officiate  he  noticed  that  a  great  crowd  was 
collected.  A  horse-race  was  to  come  off,  and  as  he  was 
about  to  commence  the  services,  he  heard  the  signal 
given  for  the  horses  to  start. 

Samuel  J.  Mills's  Tour. — The  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills  and 
the  Rev.  John  F.  Schmerhorn,  graduates  of  Williams  Col- 
lege, were  commissioned  by  the  Massachusetts  Mis- 
sionary Society,  and  others,  to  make  an  exploring  tour 
on  the  frontiers  through  the  West  and  Southeast,  in 
order  to  acquire  accurate  knowledge  in  respect  to  the 
moral  and  religious  wants  of  the  people  of  that  entire  re- 
gion. They  set  out  on  their  journey  in  the  autumn  of 
1812,  and  spent  about  a  year  in  traveling  from  point  to 
point,  preaching  by  the  way,  and  when  it  seemed  expe- 
dient, tarrying  long  enough  to  make  proper  investiga- 
tions. In  this  manner  they  passed  through  a  portion 
of  the  State  of  Ohio;  visited  many  settlements  in  the 
Territories  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  the  towns  along 
down  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  where  they  spent 
some  time,  and  on  their  way  back  they  visited  the  Terri- 
tory of  Missouri  at  its  principal  town,  St.  Louis.  {G.  II., 
p.  423.) 

They  made  an  elaborate  report  on  the  religious  and 
moral  condition  of  the  people,  and  also  on  the  destitution 
that  prevailed  in  the  entire  region  in  respect  to  preachers 
of  the  gospel.  This  report  was  published  and  widely  cir- 
culated, and  it  aroused  an  unusual  interest  in  the  Eastern 
churches,  which  was  manifested  in  an  increased  number 
of  missionaries  that  the  societies  representing  these 
churches  sent  out.  The  authors  of  the  report  having 
been  on  the  ground,  and  after  thorough  investigation 
were  able  to  suggest  judicious  measures  to  meet  the 
religious  wants  of  the  people.     They  urged  the  policy, 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     369 

adopted  by  the  Presbyterians,  of  occupying  important 
points,  and  there  establishing  churches  and  sustaining 
them  till  they  become  self-supporting  and  centers  of 
local  influence.  This  plan  was  in  contrast  with  the  in- 
judicious custom,  that  sometimes  prevailed,  of  organizing 
churches  with  a  mere  handful  of  members,  and  afterward, 
because  of  the  lack  of  men  and  means,  leaving  them  to 
dwindle  away  and  perhaps  pass  out  of  existence. 

This  report  commanded  the  confidence  of  the  religious 
community.  Previous  to  this  time,  by  his  persevering 
efforts  in  urging  privately  upon  prominent  clergymen 
and  others  his  views  of  the  churches  having  a  practical 
missionary  spirit,  Mr.  Mills,  more  than  any  other  man, 
had  promoted  the  formation  of  the  American  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  in  1810.  (Four  Hundred  Years,  etc., 
page  636.) 

Rev.  Salmon  Giddings. — To  no  one  does  Missouri  owe 
more  as  a  missionary  than  to  Rev.  Salmon  Giddings.  He 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  after  the 
latter's  return  from  his  tour  of  observation  he  learned 
from  him  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  country  and  of  the  re- 
ligious wants  of  its  people.  Giddings  was  then  a  tutor 
in  Williams  College,  and  had  recently  been  licensed  to 
preach.  Being  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
the  subject  he  determined  to  make  the  West  his  future 
home  and  field  of  missionary  work  and  St.  Louis  the 
scene  of  his  labors.  The  Connecticut  Society,  having 
learned  of  his  purpose,  sent  him  a  commission  to  labor 
in  the  "Western  country."  In  December,  181 5,  he  com- 
menced his  long  journey  on  horseback,  advancing  slowly 
across  the  State  of  Ohio  and  the  Territories  of  Indiana 
and  Illinois.  On  the  way,  he  preached  on  the  Sabbath 
and  often,  when  opportunity  served,  on  week  days.  It 
was  not  till  April  6,  18 16,  that  he  reached  St.  Louis. 
During  the  three  previous  years  the  country  had  been 


370         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

much  agitated  by  the  War  of  1812,  which  interfered  very 
sadly  with  home  missionary  work,  as  well  as  with  the 
general  piety  of  the  people.  But  now  the  war  being 
ended,  an  unusual  impulse  was  given  to  business,  espe- 
cially in  the  line  of  migrations  to  the  West,  and  therein 
on  its  rivers. 

St.  Louis,  as  already  noted  {p.  36/),  had  all  the  ele- 
ments of  a  hard  place  for  an  evangelist  to  begin  his 
labors.  Giddings  was  peculiarly  adapted  for  his  work, 
being  blessed  with  a  Christian  and  kindly  disposition, 
scholarship,  and  common  sense,  and  withal  self-reliance; 
he  was  able  to  adapt  himself  to  surrounding  circum- 
stances. He  was  under  the  necessity  of  walking  through 
the  town  from  house  to  house  to  obtain  a  lodging-place 
and  board.  He  happened  to  pick  up  a  little  St.  Louis 
newspaper,  in  which  was  an  article  headed  "Caution;" 
the  people  were  warned  against  himself.  They  were  told 
that  a  missionary  society  in  New  England  was  about  to 
send  out  preachers  to  the  West,  but  that  it  was  done  for 
a  political  purpose,  and,  moreover,  the  project  had  its 
origin  in  the  Hartford  Convention !  The  latter  was  a 
favorite  bugbear  at  the  time,  and  used  on  almost  every 
occasion  on  the  stump  or  in  the  newspapers  by  a  certain 
class  of  demagogues.  The  motive  of  the  latter  was,  no 
doubt,  to  prejudice  the  Southern  people  against  those 
of  New  England. 

Mr.  Giddings  spent  the  first  year  in  visiting  a  number 
of  settlements  and  preaching  in  the  Territory.  He  sought 
out  the  Presbyterians  and  organized  a  church  in  the 
Belleview  settlement  some  eighty  miles  southwest  of 
St.  Louis  (August  16,  1816).  This  was  said  to  be  the 
first  Presbyterian  church  organized  in  the  Territory. 
There  is  a  special  interest  attached  to  this  church,  inas- 
much as  in  1807  there  migrated  to  Missouri  from  the 
same  church  in  North  Carolina  four  Presbyterian  elders 


Rev.   Lyman  Beecher,   D.  D. 
(244,  268,  321,  395,  408-413,  415.) 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     37 1 

and  their  families,  who  found  homes  at  this  place. 
Though  they  had  no  preaching,  they  were  careful  to  keep 
up  a  weekly  prayer-meeting  and  to  meet  together  on 
the  Sabbath  and  read  sermons.  After  some  time  the  set- 
tlement was  visited  by  a  Methodist  circuit  rider,  and  they 
worshiped  with  them  until  Mr.  Giddings  came,  when  he 
organized  a  church  consisting  of  thirty  members. 

Rev.  Timothy  Flint. — The  same  year  (1816)  came  the 
Rev.  Timothy  Flint,  commissioned  by  the  Connecticut 
Society.  He  traveled  much  as  an  itinerant,  directing  his 
attention  to  the  settlements  up  the  Missouri  river.  He 
wrote  a  graphic  description  of  the  country  as  to  its 
fertile  soil  and  salubrious  climate,  and  also  described  the 
Territory  as  a  most  important  field  for  missionary  labor. 
Immigrants  in  great  numbers  were  coming  in  and  settling 
on  farms  or  moving  on  further  West.  For  a  time,  the 
crowd  was  so  great  that,  as  Flint  states,  as  many  as  one 
hundred  immigrants  passed  daily  through  St.  Charles. 
He  reported  that  not  one  family  in  fifty  had  a  Bible. 

Reasons  for  the  Migration. — In  order  to  understand  the 
reasons  for  this  movement  the  reader  will  notice  as  one 
of  them,  the  material  condition  of  the  country  at  that 
period.  The  War  of  1812  had  recently  closed.  It  had 
had  a  most  depressing  eflfect  upon  religion  as  well  as  on 
the  business  prosperity  of  the  older  portion  of  the  Union. 
In  the  seaboard  States,  ocean  commerce,  especially  the 
carrying  trade  was  destroyed ;  mechanical  industries  were 
ruined  by  the  influx  of  foreign — especially  English — 
manufactured  articles,  purposely  put  in  even  at  cost; 
workmen  were  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  in  conse- 
quence thousands  upon  thousands  who  happened  to 
have  the  means,  sought  to  better  the  condition  of  them- 
selves and  families  by  migrating  to  the  fertile  valleys 
and  prairies  of  the  West.  This  movement  continued  for 
a  number  of  years,  since  it  took  a  long  time  for  business 


372         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

in  its  various  forms  to  recover  in  the  older  States  from 
the  unwonted  depression  into  which  it  had  been  plunged 
by  the  embargo  and  similar  measures.  The  result  was, 
these  new  and  fertile  regions  were  occupied  by  energetic 
settlers  who  were  not  afraid  to  labor,  and  that  influence 
passed  over  into  succeeding  generations,  so  that  pro- 
verbially, the  people  of  the  West  became  and  continued  to 
be  industrious  and  competent  in  business  matters,  and  in 
due  time  promptly  did  their  full  share  in  sustaining  the 
Union  in  its  time  of  trial,  as  well  as  the  ordinances  of  the 
church  and  the  cause  of  education. 

The  Presbyterians  of  Missouri,  as  well  as  its  early 
settlers,  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  energetic  and  self- 
denying  missionary  labors  of  Giddings  and  Flint.  They 
journeyed  far  and  wide,  and  preached  by  the  way,  en- 
couraging numbers  who  in  their  old  homes  had  been 
professing  Christians,  but  in  their  new  ones  had  become 
indifferent  to  form  themselves  into  congregations,  and 
afterward,  when  circumstances  permitted,  into  organized 
churches  and  then  to  sustain  them  by  their  own  per- 
sonal efforts.  Meantime  every  effort  was  made  to  secure 
for  these  churches  ministers  either  as  stated  supplies  or 
evangelists. 

Mr.  Giddings,  to  eke  out  his  very  limited  salary,  estab- 
lished a  school  in  St.  Louis,  but  continued  to  preach,  and 
managed  for  a  portion  of  the  year  to  make  preaching 
tours  throughout  that  region  and  sometimes  across  the 
river  in  Illinois.  When  teaching  he  gave  special  at- 
tention to  a  feeble  congregation,  which  he  finally  organ- 
ized as  a  church  (November  23,  1817).  Such  were  the 
beginnings  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  St.  Louis. 
It  had  only  nine  members,  and  it  was  eight  years  before 
they  were  able  to  build  for  themselves  a  suitable  home. 
Mr.  Giddings  became  its  pastor  and  served  it  faithfully  for 
eleven  years,  till  his  death.    In  that  relation  he  was  sue- 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     373 

ceeded  by  Rev.  (Dr.)  William  S.  Potts  (1829),  who  did 
a  grand  work  as  its  pastor.  During  the  years  of  his  pas- 
torate Mr.  Giddings  was  ever  diligent  in  the  labor,  when 
the  occasion  required,  of  itinerating,  and  devoting  his 
energies  as  much  as  possible  to  every  work  that  would 
have  good  influence  upon  the  public  welfare.  He  was 
specially  interested  in  the  French  Catholic  population,  dis- 
tributing among  them  Bibles  and  Testaments  in  that 
language,  and  in  addition,  manifesting  toward  them  his 
good  will  by  many  acts  of  kindness. 

>Mr.  Flint,  who  had  previously  been  a  missionary  in 
Indiana,  was  during  this  period  very  active  in  his  labors, 
the  scene  of  which  was  up  on  the  Missouri  river  at  St. 
Charles  and  vicinity.  He  visited  and  often  preached  in 
the  neighboring  towns,  traveling  much  during  the  year, 
and  as  he  could  not  afford  a  horse  oftentimes  on  foot. 
He  also,  sometimes,  visited  the  more  distant  new  set- 
tlements on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  on  one  of  his 
missionary  excursions,  lasting  seven  weeks,  he  crossed 
the  Missouri  sixteen  times.  Mr.  Flint,  in  his  journal, 
when  speaking  of  the  scenes  and  people,  says:  "Many 
of  them  live  and  die  without  any  thought  of  eternity. 
So  engaged  are  they  in  making  new  settlements  in  the 
woods  that  they  seem  to  regard  nothing  besides."  Yet 
he  was  often  cheered  by  being  most  cordially  received 
by  those  with  whom  he  had  previously  conversed  and 
given  Bibles,  and  who  listened  joyously  to  his  sermons. 
Mr.  Flint,  after  remaining  ten  years  in  the  West  as  a 
Missionary,  returned  to  the  East,  and  wrote  with  great 
success  on  the  characteristics  of  the  scenery  of  the  Great 
valley  and  of  its  then  inhabitants. 

A  Number  of  Missionaries — John  Matthews — From 
time  to  time  other  missionaries  were  coming  into  the 
Territory,  who  were  usually  commissioned  for  six  months, 
some  of  whom  remained  and  settled  permanently  over 


374        A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH, 

churches.  Rev.  Thomas  Donnell,  from  North  Carolina, 
was  one  who  was  eminent  as  a  Christian  and  for  his  use- 
fulness. Rev.  Charles  S.  Robinson,  from  Mississippi,  was 
sent  by  the  New  York  Young  Men's  Evangelical  So- 
ciety (1816).  Rev.  William  McFarland  was  sent  in  1817 
by  the  General  Assembly  to  St.  Louis  for  six  months, 
and  to  visit  destitute  places  in  the  Territory.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  commissioned  Rev.  Jeremiah  Chamber- 
lain in  1819  for  six  months  to  the  Territory  of  Missouri. 
Rev.  Francis  McFarland  was  commissioned  in  1820  to 
visit  the  region  up  the  Missouri  river. 

The  Connecticut  Society  commissioned  Rev,  John 
Matthews  to  itinerate  six  months  in  Missouri  in  1819, 
Matthews  was  a  native  of  Beaver  County,  Pennsylvania; 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  a  graduate  of  Jefferson  Col- 
lege, and  studied  theology  under  Dr.  John  McMillan. 
After  being  a  pastor  for  several  years  within  the  bounds 
of  Erie  Presbytery  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  become  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  destitute  portions  of  the  Western  territo- 
ries. After  receiving  his  appointment  from  the  Connecticut 
Society  he  went  down  the  Ohio  on  a  flatboat,  landing 
at  Louisville,  Then  traveling  on  horseback  and  preach- 
ing by  the  way,  he  passed  through  Indinna  and  Illinois, 
and  finally  joined  Mr.  Giddings  in  St.  Louis,  and  im- 
mediately entered  upon  his  work.  Passing  up  the  Mis- 
souri to  the  vicinity  of  St.  Charles,  he  took  charge  of  a 
church  in  Pike  County;  here  he  remained  seven  years,  a 
portion  of  which  time  he  engaged  in  teaching  to  aid  in  his 
support.  Afterward  he  took  charge  of  a  church  in  South- 
eastern Missouri,  and  two  or  three  years  later  we  find 
him  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Kaskaskia,  Illinois. 
Matthews,  though  indefatigable  in  his  ministerial  labors, 
managed  to  become  a  well-read  student,  and  found  time 
in  the  course  of  years  to  write  out  a  system  of  theology. 

These  ministers  continued  to  visit  the  various  settle- 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     375 

ments  and  gave  special  attention  to  the  churches  recently 
organized.  The  destitute  portions  of  the  Territory  made 
urgent  calls  for  more  preachers,  while  those  in  the  field 
were  incessant  in  their  efforts  to  answer  these  calls. 

Missions  in  Michigan. — The  territory  now  known  as 
Michigan  was  previously  visited  by  the  French,  who  in 
1610  established  a  trading-post  on  the  strait — Detroit. 
After  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  1763,  it  passed  into  the  hands 
of  England,  and  all  the  French  forts  on  the  lakes  were 
occupied  by  English  garrisons.  After  the  American 
Revolution,  when  a  boundary  was  arranged  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  the  line  was  drawn  through 
the  middle  of  the  Lakes  and  their  connecting  streams, 
and  thus  the  Territory  of  Michigan  became  the  property 
of  the  latter. 

The  first  settlers  at  Detroit  and  in  the  vicinity  were 
French,  who  in  1749  were  sent  out  at  the  expense  of  that 
government  to  form  a  settlement.  At  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  "The  French  at  Detroit  were  numerous;  they 
tilled  their  farms  as  well  as  engaged  in  the  traffic  of  furs." 
This  trade  was  carried  on  from  Detroit  as  a  center  along 
the  shores  of  the  upper  lakes. 

In  1805  the  United  States  Government  organized  the 
Territory  of  Michigan,  but  four  years  previous  mission- 
aries had  visited  Detroit,  though  more  especially  to  the 
Indians  (p.  2g6).  The  town  had  the  reputation  of  being 
"a  most  abandoned  place;"  it  was  stated  that  only  one 
person  in  it — a  colored  man — appeared  to  be  pious.  Two 
other  missionaries,  a  Methodist  and  a  Congregationalist, 
made  similar  efforts,  but  both  were  unsuccessful.  About 
this  time  (1804)  a  destructive  fire  burned  ever  house  in 
the  place  except  one. 

The  Trials  of  the  Early  Settlers  of  Michigan. — De- 
troit being  on  the  line  between  Canada  and  the  United 
States,  was,  if  possible,  still  more  demoralized  than  ever 


376         A    HISTORY    OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

by  the  War  of  1812,  and  not  till  after  its  close  was  spe- 
cial effort  made  by  the  General  Assembly  to  send  mis- 
sionaries thither.  The  population  consisted  largely  of  the 
resident  garrison;  in  addition  were  white  traders  and 
Indians  of  different  tribes,  and  the  descendants  of  the 
original  French;  the  latter  were  Catholics.  The  char- 
acter of  the  people  in  1816  is  thus  summed  up:  "The 
profaneness  of  the  soldiers  exceeds  anything  I  ever  im- 
agined"— by  the  way,  the  garrison  had  no  chaplain; 
.  .  .  "there  is  no  Sabbath  in  this  country."  Such  are 
the  words  of  Rev.  John  Monteith,  who  in  1817  was  sent  to 
Detroit  and  vicinity,  by  the  assembly's  board,  for  one  year, 
but  his  commission  was  renewed  from  year  to  year. 
Though  ignorance  and  wickedness  prevailed  to  a  fright- 
ful extent,  there  were  a  few  who  welcomed  him  most 
cordially;  he  labored  on  faithfully,  and  commanded  the 
respect  of  all  classes  by  his  self-denying  zeal  in  the  cause 
of  pure  religion.  He  said  he  was  lonely,  as  the  nearest 
Presbyterian  brother  was  two  hundred  miles  distant. 
He  took  one  month  in  the  year  as  a  vacation,  when  he 
went  on  missionary  tours  to  the  surrounding  region. 
Thus  he  occasionally  visited  the  settlements  on  the  river 
Raisin,  and  as  far  on  the  lake  shore  as  Sandusky  and 
Cleveland.  The  Methodists  had  also  preaching  from 
itinerant  ministers,  and  they  manifested  in  the  community 
their  usual  Christian  zeal. 

Labors  of  Rev.  Monteith. — Mr.  Monteith  made  a  re- 
port of  his  preaching  tours,  and  the  assembly  in  1818 
commissioned  a  missionary  for  six  months  to  the  set- 
tlements on  the  Raisin,  and  this  was  for  a  year  or  two 
following. 

Mackinaw,  on  the  straits  of  the  same  name,  from  its 
position,  was  an  important  center  for  missionary  work, 
since  through  these  straits  there  was  every  prospect  that 
in  time  an  immense  coasting  trade  would  pass.     This 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     377 

trading-post  was  in  1820  visited  by  Rev.  Jedediah  Morse, 
who  preached  to  the  people  for  a  season.  The  moral 
character  of  the  town  may  be  inferred  from  the  state- 
ment that  "the  Christian  Sabbath  had  not  got  so  far." 
Two  years  later  the  Rev.  W.  M.  Ferry  came  under  a 
commission  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 
Though  at  first  he  could  not  find  much  encouragement, 
he  labored  on  for  ten  years,  and  had  his  reward  in  see- 
ing the  moral  character  of  the  place  quite  changed  for  the 
better. 

Mission  at  St  Mary's  Straits. — The  Western  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  established 
a  mission  at  the  straits  of  St.  Mary.  At  this  location 
were  a  number  of  English-speaking  families,  as  well  as 
French,  the  latter  nominally  Catholic,  besides  numbers 
of  Indians  of  different  tribes,  who  still  resorted  to  these 
waters  in  order  to  obtain  supplies  of  fish.  This  was  an 
important  missionary  station,  as  the  trade  of  the  upper 
lakes,  which  evidently  would  have  a  great  future,  must 
pass  through  these  straits,  and  it  was  hoped  it  would  be- 
come a  center  of  Christian  influence  and  effort.  The 
United  States  Government  had  established  here  a  mili- 
tary post,  and  here  at  that  time  resided  its  Indian  agent, 
Mr,  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft. 

The  special  missionary.  Rev.  Robert  M.  Laird,  was 
earnest  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  and  he  was 
blessed  in  his  labors  among  the  soldiers  and  residents, 
numbers  of  whom  attended  his  special  services  for  those 
inquiring  on  the  subject  of  religion,  as  he  reported  to  the 
General  Assembly  in  1824.  He  made  it  a  point  to  dis- 
tribute Bibles  and  religious  books  to  the  scholars  in  the 
Sunday-schools,  and  also  to  adults. 

The  General  Assembly  continued  from  year  to  year  to 
make  appointments  for  the  entire  region  around  the 
shores  of  the  lakes,  and  the  adjoining  settlements  in  the 
26 


378         A    HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

interior  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  till  it  became  a 
State  in  1837.  An  immense  population  kept  pouring  in 
from  the  Eastern  States  for  a  number  of  years,  and  the 
calls  for  preachers  of  the  gospel  were  incessant.  The 
Presbytery  of  Detroit  was  formed  in  1827,  and  put  in 
connection  with  Western  Reserve  Synod.  Meanwhile 
the  number  of  people  and  churches  continued  to  increase, 
so  that  it  became  necessary,  as  a  matter  of  convenience, 
to  divide  the  Presbytery  of  Detroit,  and  two  others  were 
set  off  from  it,  that  of  St.  Joseph's  and  Monroe.  These 
three  presbyteries  numbered  thirty-two  ministers,  and  the 
churches  fifty-nine,  and  in  1835  the  Synod  of  Michigan 
was  organized. 

The  Reports — Views  of  Missionaries. — It  is  unfortu- 
nate for  the  historian  and  for  the  reader  that  so  few  of 
these  pioneer  ministers — not  more  than  three  or  four,  it 
seems — took  notes  or  wrote  specially  of  the  varied  con- 
ditions of  the  people  living  in  these  new  communities. 
To  be  sure,  they  sent  regularly  their  reports  to  the  re- 
spective societies  under  whose  commissions  they  labored. 
These  reports  were  condensed  as  ordinary  business  docu- 
ments. These  devoted  men  had  an  instinctive  delicacy 
which  prevented  their  making  complaints  to  the  commit- 
tee of  the  society.  It  is  only  now  and  then  we  get  hints 
derived  from  their  private  letters,  of  their  trials,  and 
those  of  their  devoted  wives,  who  underwent  with  them 
the  dangers  and  the  hardships  incident  to  such  frontier 
life.  When  the  timid  statement  is  made  of  the  lack  of 
support,  it  always  means  deprivation  for  the  family  of 
the  necessaries  of  life — of  luxuries  they  had  none.  The 
great  services  of  these  wives  and  mothers  have  been  al- 
most literally  ignored;  if  we  only  had  a  record  of  them 
we  could  obtain  a  clearer  view  of  the  inner  life  of  the  peo- 
ple among  whom  they  and  their  husbands  labored.  How 
often  would  the  journal  of  the  wife  of  a  missionary 


RELATION  OF  CHURCHES  TO  CERTAIN  PRESBYTERIES.     379 

throw  light  upon  the  characteristics  of  these  frontier 
communities?  In  every  instance  when  the  missionary 
presented  himself,  the  women  of  the  frontier  settlements 
were  always  the  first  to  give  him  a  hearty  welcome,  with 
tears  of  joy  and  a  burst  of  gratitude  for  bringing  them 
the  gospel  which  they  loved  to  hear  in  their  native  homes, 
and  now,  for  obvious  reasons,  more  lovingly  cherished 
than  ever.  May  we  not  hope  that  a  better  day  is  dawn- 
ing, when  the  fruitful  labors  of  the  wives  of  home  mis- 
sionaries will  be  more  appreciated  and  become  a  sub- 
ject of  record,  and  thus  stimulate  their  sisters  to  greater 
exertions  in  the  cause? 


XXXIX. 

The  Change  of  Policy. 

We  are  now  approaching  an  important  era  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Presbyterian  Church — no  less  than  its  division. 
This  act  led  to  a  complete  change  of  its  policy  in  mis- 
sionary operations;  namely,  from  the  union  with  other 
denominations  in  voluntary  societies,  to  a  separate  and 
individual  action  on  the  part  of  the  church.  This  was 
in  accordance  with  the  theory,  which  had  been  suggested 
some  time  before,  that  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  a 
denomination,  should  be  ex  officio  a  missionary  associa- 
tion. The  reader  will  note  that  the  several  denomina- 
tions in  the  Union  at  this  time — 1900 — conduct  their 
missionary  operations,  foreign  and  home,  in  their  indi- 
vidual or  organic  capacity.  The  only  voluntary  benevo- 
lent associations  at  this  day  are  the  American  Bible 
Society,  Sunday-School  Union,  and  American  Tract  So- 
ciety. Within  the  last  half-century  all  the  evangelical 
denominations  have  each  advanced  so  much  in  the  num- 
ber of  adherents  and  in  material  prosperity  that  they 
can  in  a  separate  capacity  do  more  effective  work  in  ex- 
tending the  influence  of  the  gospel  than  by  cooperating 
with  voluntary  associations.  This  separate  action  brings 
home  more  vividly  to  their  respective  church  members 
each  one's  individual  responsihilify  in  the  matter  than 
under  the  voluntary  or  combination  system.  The  Ameri- 
can Board  was  originally  a  voluntary  association,  and 
because  of  its  having  been  admirably  conducted  finan- 
cially, as  well  as  judiciously  in  its  general  management, 


THE    CHANGE    OF    POLICY.  38 1 

it  commanded  the  confidence  of  the  entire  religious  pub- 
lic. It  has  now,  however,  become  virtually  denomina- 
tional, since  it  is  the  agent  of  the  Congregational  Church 
alone.  What  a  grand  careei  it  has  had  for  nearly  ninety 
years !  The  voluntary  system  is  better  adapted  to  the 
Congregational  Church  polity  than  to  any  other  denomi- 
nation. Since  its  polity  enjoins  "the  equality  of  all  be- 
lievers, including  the  officers  of  the  church;  the  equality 
of  the  several  churches,  free  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
ecclesiastical  court  or  bishop,  free  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  one  church  over  another,  free  from  the  collective 
authority  of  them  all."  {Bancroft's  U.  S.  Hist.,  pp.  2j8, 
2jp.    Last  revision.) 

The  Progress  of  the  Church. — In  the  progress  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  from  1830  to  1837,  ^^e  average  an- 
nual number  of  persons  admitted  to  it  on  examination  in 
the  first  four  years  of  that  period  was  23,340,  and  of 
the  last  three  the  average  was  only  14,463.  During 
these  latter  three  years  there  was  much  agitation  in  the 
church,  because  of  ecclesiastical  trials  of  clergymen  and 
other  controversies,  which  resulted  finally  in  1838  in  its 
division;  this  may  account,  in  part,  for  the  falling  off 
of  conversions  from  the  world.  In  1837  the  number  of 
synods  was  twenty-three;  presbyteries,  one  hundred  and 
tMrty-five ;  ministers,  two  thousand  one  hundred  and 
forty;  churches,  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
five,  and  of  church  members,  two  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand,  five  hundred  and  fifty-seven. 

The  Aivakened  Interest. — The  sentiment  had  been  in- 
creasing in  the  minds  of  men  of  comprehensive  views 
that  the  church  in  its  organized  capacity  should  be  vir- 
tually a  missionary  society.  It  was  agreed  that  such 
a  stand  taken  on  the  subject  would  develop  a  greater 
missionary  spirit  among  the  church  members.  The  dis- 
cussion and  diffusion  of  knowledge  on  the  subject  awak- 


382  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

ened  an  interest  never  before  known.  The  great  diffi- 
culty in  the  way  of  reahzing  these  expectations  was  that 
the  American  Board  was  doing  a  grand  work;  and  why 
not  let  well  alone,  rather  than  break  off  and  try  experi- 
ments on  a  separate  line?  On  the  same  ground  the 
Home  Missionary  Society  was  a  voluntary  association, 
but  was  doing  a  good  work.  In  consequence  of  this  suc- 
cess Presbyterians,  for  the  greater  pan,  gave  their  con- 
tributions to  these  voluntary  societies,  and  that  habit 
crippled  those  belonging  to  the  church  proper.  It  is 
probable  that  a  much  longer  time  would  have  elapsed 
before  the  majority  of  the  Presbyterian  ministry  and  in- 
telligent laymen  could  have  become  willing  to  withdraw 
from  that  system  and  adopt  the  denominational,  had  not 
other  causes  intervened. 

The  Changes  in  Thirty  Years. — The  plan  of  union 
had  been  the  means  of  accomplishing  a  grand  work  since 
it  was  first  established.  The  two  denominations,  the 
Presbyterian  and  Congregational,  in  their  missionary 
labor,  often  overlapped  one  another  in  occupying  the 
same  ground,  and  thus  they  came  in  friendly  competition. 
The  plan  of  union  was  therefore  adopted  in  order  to  util- 
ize more  effectively  the  power  of  both  parties.  {See  pp. 
2^8-240.)  But  in  the  course  of  more  than  a  third  of  a 
century  the  conditions  had  very  much  changed.  Both 
denominations  had  increased  in  the  number  of  their 
church  members;  while  the  field  for  their  missionary 
operations  had  increased  in  a  still  greater  proportion. 
The  Congregationalists  had  extended  on  parallel  lines 
of  latitude  across  Northern  and  Western  New  York,  and, 
passing  over  Pennsylvania  into  Ohio,  occupied  mainly  the 
region  known  as  the  Western  Reserve.  The  Presbyteri- 
ans continued  to  hold  their  own  in  the  South,  along  the 
Atlantic  slope.  In  early  days  they  crossed  the  Alle- 
ghanies  and  took  possession  of  Western  Pennsylvania, 


THE    CHANGE    OF    POLICY.  383 

then  extended  their  hnes  into  the  Territories,  afterward 
the  States  lying  between  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers ; 
meanwhile  their  missionaries  from  the  South  Atlantic 
slope,  on  similar  lines  of  latitude,  were  penetrating  the 
Territories,  afterward  States,  bordering  on  the  north 
shore  of  the  gulf,  and  also  on  the  north  of  the  latter  were 
occupying  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  Presbyterians 
of  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Eastern  Ohio  were  at  the 
same  time  passing  down  the  rivers  Ohio  and  Mississippi, 
taking  in  only  the  towns  on  the  north  shore  of  the  former 
but  on  both  shores  of  the  latter  to  New  Orleans.  On  the 
west  side  missionaries  were  sent  to  the  Territories  of 
Arkansas  and  Missouri.  From  these  fields  of  early  min- 
isterial labor  the  Presbyterian  Church  never  receded, 
but  continued  to  advance  toward  greater  efficiency  in  pro- 
claiming the  gospel. 

Missionary  Territorial  Areas  Compared. — With  the 
exception  of  a  limited  number  of  isolated  churches  in  dif- 
ferent localities,  and  those  in  the  Western  Reserve,  there 
were  scarcely  any  organized  Congregational  churches 
west  of  the  Alleghanies.  The  home  of  the  great  influence 
of  that  body  of  Christians  was  in  New  England;  but 
how  nobly  they  labored  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christ 
within  the  Union,  especially  in  the  great  West!  The 
immense  territory  just  described  was,  in  an  ecclesiastical 
sense,  occupied  for  the  most  part  by  the  Presbyterians, 
To  aid  in  evangelizing  the  people  therein,  they  invited 
and  cordially  welcomed  great  numbers  of  ministers,  who 
were  sent  and  supported  by  the  missionary  societies  oi 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  The  ministers  and  mis- 
sionaries. Congregational  and  Presbyterian,  agreed  in  the 
essential  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  on  this  basis  they 
fraternized.  As  to  the  form  of  church  government, 
though  each  party  had  its  predilections,  it  was  deemed 
by  both  non-essential  or  a  matter  of  expediency,  and  in 


384  A  HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

consequence  changes  were  often  made  by  ministers  from 
one  denomination  to  the  other.  The  result  was  that  in 
the  West  the  missionaries  from  New  England  fell  in  with 
the  Presbyterial  polity  and  connected  themselves,  when 
occasion  required,  with  their  presbyteries  and  synods. 

The  area  of  these  new  territories  occupied  by  the  Pres- 
byterians was  comparatively  so  much  greater  than  that 
of  New  England  that  it  required  a  proportionally 
greater  number  of  ministers  to  meet  the  religious  wants 
of  the  population,  which,  in  addition  to  the  rapid  and 
natural  increase,  was  augmented  by  thousands  and  thou- 
sands migrating  thither  from  the  old  States.  Still  more, 
in  after  years,  hosts  of  immigrants  were  almost  daily 
coming  in  from  Germany  and  Ireland.  Some  of  those 
from  the  former  were  evangelical  Lutherans,  while 
others,  indeed  the  much  more  numerous  class,  were  in- 
different to  religious  subjects,  especially  those  who  were 
rationalistic  in  their  views.  The  latter  had  scarcely  any 
respect  for  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  sacred  rest,  they 
being  accustomed  to  the  "Continental  Sabbath."  Those 
from  Ireland  were,  for  the  most  part,  unfortunately, 
grossly  illiterate  and  priest-ridden  Catholics. 

JVhat  Presbyterians  Had  at  Stake. — The  Presbyteri- 
ans had  a  great  deal  at  stake,  since  they,  as  a  denomina- 
tion, had  adopted  a  system  or  Confession  of  Faith,  and 
catechism,  church  polity,  and  discipline,  that  had  stood 
the  test  for  two  hundred  years,  and  proved  itself,  as  they 
believed,  to  be  in  substance  in  accordance  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Holy  Scripture.  On  the  contrary,  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  had  no  such  complete  system  of  Christian  doc- 
trine around  which  a  great  denomination  could  rally,  as 
each  congregation  usually  had  its  own  confession  framed 
by  the  congregation  itself.  No  two  of  these  creeds  were 
alike,  word  for  word,  and  occasionally  individual  churches 
changed  the  terms  of  tlvAr  summary  of  doctrine.     The 


THE    CHANGE    OF    POLICY.    "  385 

Presbyterians  did  not  relish  thi^  desultory  element  hav- 
ing a  foothold  within  their  well  organized  system  of 
theology  and  church  discipline.  It  was  often  said  that 
the  Congregationalists  took  the  Bible  as  their  Confession 
of  Faith,  but  they  did  not  do  that  one  whit  more  than 
the  Presbyterians. 

Church  Discipline. — There  was  another  phase  of  the 
subject,  that  in  relation  to  church  discipline,  which  was 
in  contrast  with  the  polity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
In  the  latter,  if  a  minister  was  charged  with  preaching 
doctrines  that  contravened  those  of  the  Bible  and  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  he  could  be  summoned  before  the 
presbytery  for  trial;  if  the  result  of  the  latter  was  not 
satisfactory,  the  accused  could  appeal  to  a  higher  court, 
even  the  highest,  the  General  Assembly.  If  he  refused  to 
obey  the  regular  summons  his  name,  under  the  charge 
of  "contumacy,"  was  dropped  from  the  roll  of  the  pres- 
bytery, that  he  might  no  longer  preach  as  a  recognized 
Presbyterian.  In  the  Congregational  system,  if  a  clergy- 
man preached  not  in  accordance  with  the  received  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  or  of  the  Bible,  he  could  be  sum- 
moned before  the  association  to  answer  the  charge.  He 
was  not  accused  of  contravening  a  confession  of  faith, 
which  perhaps  he  himself  had  framed  for  th'C  individual 
church  of  which  he  was  the  pastor.  If  he  did  not  wish 
a  trial  by  his  peers,  he  could  avail  himself  and  his  church 
of  the  principle  of  being  "free  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
[an]  ecclesiastical  court,"  and  withdraw  from  the  asso- 
ciation, and  preach  any  doctrines  he  pleased,  and  also 
claim  to  be  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church. 

After  some  years  of  observation,  a  number  of  leading 
Presbyterians  became  alarmed,  when  they  noticed  that 
under  the  conditions  of  the  plan  of  union  ministers  who 
had  been  trained  in  accordance  with  the  Congregational 
method  of  church  discipline,  and  who  apparently  sane- 


386         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

tioned  the  same,  were  received  without  examination  into 
presbyteries  in  certain  localities.  Complaints  had  also 
been  made  that  "committee  men,"  not  ordained,  as  were 
elders,  came  from  churches  that  were  organized  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  plan  of  union  and  took  part,  as  voting 
members  in  the  higher  judicatures  of  the  church.  The 
question  naturally  presented  itself,  would  not  such  in- 
fluence, in  the  end,  impair  the  efficiency  of  the  Presby- 
terian mode  of  church  government?  The  discrepancies 
on  these  points  did  not  alienate  the  cordiality  of  the  two 
denominations  as  represented  by  their  respective  mis- 
sionaries in  the  great  West;  they  blended  together  in  a 
beautiful  Christian  harmony  in  preaching  the  gospel  to 
the  people.  In  this  manner  that  grand  work  went  on  and 
prospered  for  a  third  of  a  century. 

Irresponsibility  of  Societies. — Other  elements  of  dis- 
cord were  in  existence.  One  of  these  was  the  dissatis- 
faction in  the  Presbyterian  Church  because  of  its 
cooperation  with  the  voluntary  societies  that  were  irre- 
sponsible, as  far  as  that  church  was  concerned,  though 
it  contributed  liberally  to  their  funds.  This  feeling  was 
quietly  increasing  from  year  to  year,  when  it  suddenly 
manifested  itself  in  the  General  Assembly  of  1829,  when 
a  resolution  was  introduced  to  continue  its  cooperation 
with  the  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  discussion  made 
manifest  the  undercurrent  of  a  desire  that  was  becoming 
stronger  and  stronger  to  have  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  its  organic  capacity  and  in  its  right  and  duty,  to  put 
forth  more  strenuous  efforts  to  sustain  the  missions  that 
were  distinctly  its  own.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  the  plan  of  union,  or  cooperation,  with  voluntary 
missionary  societies.  The  resolution  was,  however,  not 
passed.  The  General  Assembly  of  the  following  year 
(1830)  was  remarkable  for  the  harmony  and  good  feel- 
ing that  prevailed  among  its  members. 


THE    CHANGE    OF    POLICY.  387 

The  Assembly's  Board  and  Education. — Two  organi- 
zations appealed  very  strongly  to  the  Presbyterian  church 
members  for  support;  these  were  the  assembly's  Board 
of  Missions  and  its  Board  of  Education,  In  order  to 
enlighten  them  on  the  subject,  a  periodical,  The  Mis- 
sionary R\eporter  and  Education  Register,  was  estab- 
lished, and  by  extraordinary  efforts  its  subscription  list 
became  large  and  its  circulation  extensive.  As  a  result 
of  the  interest  thereby  elicited,  auxiliaries  to  these  two 
societies  were  formed  in  great  numbers — nearly  two 
hundred.  Throughout  the  church  the  members  entered 
into  the  enterprise  with  an  enthusiasm  hitherto  unknown, 
and  that  practically,  as  was  evidenced  by  their  con- 
tributions to  the  funds  of  the  societies.     At  the  end  of 

1829  the  former  had  commissioned  more  than  one  hun- 
dred missionaries  and  the  funds  amounted  to  $7665.    In 

1830  it  employed  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  year  more  than  three  hundred  feeble 
churches  had  received  assistance,  and  the  funds  in  the 
meanwhile  had  nearly  doubled;  the  following  year  the 
funds  had  increased  to  about  $19,000,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  society  to  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty. 

These  results  had  a  decided  effect  in  strengthening  the 
theory  of  the  church  becoming  ex  oiUcio  a  missionary  so- 
ciety, as  well  as  acting  in  that  capacity  in  all  its  benevo- 
lent operations.  It  was  also  seen  that  in  order  to  induce 
the  members  of  the  churches  to  realize  their  individual 
responsibility  in  sustaining  by  their  contributions  the 
cause  of  missions,  foreign  and  home,  and  as  collateral 
with  them  that  of  educating  a  ministry,  was  only  to  give 
them  proper  information  on  these  subjects. 

Elements  That  Caused  Friction. — Notwithstanding 
the  union  which  existed  between  the  Presbyterian  and 
the  orthodox  Congregational  churches  in  cooperating  in 


388         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

missionary  work,  there  was  gradually  introduced  an  ele- 
ment that  caused  no  little  friction.  In  the  General  As- 
sembly appeared  delegates  who  were  not  ordained  as 
elders,  but  "committee  men"  from  the  churches  that  had 
been  organized  under  the  plan  of  union,  and  who  sat 
in  the  assembly  and  voted  on  questions  pertaining  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church  alone,  and  in  which  a  Congrega- 
tionalist  could  have  no  special  interest,  and  for  him  to 
vote  upon  such  questions  was  deemed  out  of  place.  This 
was  a  contingency  never  contemplated  by  the  good  men 
who  projected  and  formed  the  plan  of  union.  This 
question  first  arose  in  the  Assembly  in  1820,  and  some 
objected  to  the  innovation  as  contrary  to  the  order  and 
discipline  of  the  church;  this  element  of  irritation  con- 
tinued for  some  years.  In  this  first  case  the  committee 
to  whom  the  question  was  referred  reported  in  favor  of 
the  principle  "that  the  rights  of  a  committeeman  were 
the  same  in  regard  to  delegation  as  those  of  a  ruling 
elder.'^  Six  years  afterward  a  similar  case  came  up  and 
was  decided  in  the  same  manner  as  the  former;  but  in 
opposition  to  the  latter  was  entered  a  strong  protest 
signed  by  forty-two  members ;  a  similar  one  came  up  in 
1 83 1,  and  was  decided  as  the  two  former;  against  this 
was  a  still  more  vigorous  protest,  signed  by  sixty-eight 
members.  Afterward,  the  assembly  decided  to  leave  to 
each  presbytery  to  judge  of  its  own  members,  and  either 
party  had  the  right  to  appeal  to  the  synod  as  a  final 
authority,  but  not  to  the  assembly.  This  decision  was 
evidently  owing  to  the  fact  that  only  in  a  comparatively 
small  portion  of  the  church  could  this  innovation  occur. 
This  element  of  discord  was  thus  eliminated  from  the  as- 
sembly by  a  compromise. 

An  Important  Movement. — In  the  midst  of  this  clash- 
ing of  opinions  in  respect  to  the  policy  of  cooperating 
with  voluntary  societies,  a  movement  was  in  progress  that 


THE    CHANGE    OF    POLICY.  389 

had  a  decided  effect  in  settling  the  question  within  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  This  movement  culminated  when 
the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  as  such,  in  1831,  constituted 
itself:  "The  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of 
the  United  States,"  thus  taking  that  position  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  its  ministers,  its  church  sessions,  and  its 
church  members.  This  action  was  in  accordance  with 
the  synod's  own  well-grounded  theological  opinions  and 
also  of  its  theological  surroundings. 

Scotch  Presbyterians. — Pittsburg  itself  and  the  fer- 
tile region  around  it  for  more  than  one  hundred  miles 
were  settled  extensively  by  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish, 
though  there  were,  perhaps,  equal  numbers  of  English 
descent.  These  settlers  were  nearly  all  stanch  Presby- 
terians; loyal  to  the  Bible,  to  the  Sabbath  day,  to  the 
Westminster  Confession  and  its  catechisms.  They 
taught  the  latter  faithfully  to  their  children  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  and  not  one  of  those  thus  instructed, 
when  grown  to  manhood  and  womanhood,  ever  regretted 
the  religious  teaching  they  had  thus  received.  The 
majority  of  these  Presbyterians  were,  however,  of  the 
American  type,  as  modeled  after  the  English,  and  were 
more  liberal  in  their  characteristics  than  those  of  the 
pure,  unadulterated  Scotch  type — Seceders,  Covenanters, 
Associate,  and  perhaps  a  name  or  two  more.  A  portion 
of  the  ancestors  of  the  latter  came  to  America  from  Scot- 
land about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  in 
1754  organized  "the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsyl- 
vania subordinate  to  the  Synod  of  Edinburgh  {G.,  II.,  p., 
^33)'  They  did  not  sympathize  with  the  liberality  of 
American  Presbyterianism  that  had  taken  form  in  the 
Adopting  Act  of  i/2p.  {See  p.  113,  114.)  In  the  ranks 
of  these  Scotch  Presbyterians  were  found  numbers  of 
celebrated  men,  as  the  Drs.  James  Proudfit,  John  Mason, 
John    M.    Mason,    his    son;    Matthew    Henderson,    and 


390         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Others.  Great  numbers  of  the  descendants  of  these  pure 
Scotch  Presbyterians,  under  different  designations,  mi- 
grated to  the  Pittsburg  region,  and  by  their  sympathy 
sustained  those  in  connection  with  the  General  Assembly 
who  were  opposed  to  the  lax  methods  and  the  supposed 
"heretical  and  metaphysical  theology  of  New  England." 
We  cannot  go  into  detail  in  respect  to  the  ecclesiastical 
divisions  that  obtained  among  the  Scotch  Presbyterians 
in  America,  even  back  in  colonial  times  nor  after  we  be- 
came a  nation.  An  outgrowth  of  these  differences  was 
"The  Associate  Reformed,"  which  was  constituted  in 
1804.  This  latter  was  decidedly  far  in  advance  of  the 
others  in  liberal  sentiments  toward  American  Presby- 
terianism.  In  consequence,  perhaps,  of  this  well-known 
fact,  overtures  were  made  inviting  that  body  to  unite 
in  organic  union  with  the  General  Assembly.  This 
union  was  made  in  1822,  when  the  Associated  Reformed 
Synod,  but  it  would  seem  in  an  irregular  way,  voted 
to  unite  with  the  assembly.  The  comparatively  liberal 
settlements  within  the  synod,  just  mentioned,  were 
greatly  promoted  by  the  influence  of  the  celebrated  Dr. 
John  M.  Mason,  one  of  its  ministers,  though  that  in- 
fluence appears  on  his  part  to  have  been  exerted  un- 
consciously, but  in  a  most  effective  manner.  Dr.  Mason 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  that  period; 
as  a  preacher  he  had  no  peer,  a  fine  scholar  and  theolog- 
ian, of  generous  sympathies,  and  of  commanding  and 
consecrated  talents,  and  withal  of  liberal  and  charitable 
views  in  relation  to  Christian  fellowship;  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  commune  in  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per with  Presbyterians  outside  of  the  Scotch  church; 
his  refined  taste  and  perhaps  other  reasons  preferred 
the  hymns  of  Dr.  Watts  to  the  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalms  by  Rouse.  He  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
General  Assembly  in  its  work,  then  in  its  infancy,  on 


Rev.  Gideon  Blackburn,   D.  D. 

(221,   327,   32S,   330,   363.) 


THE     CHANGE    OF    POLICY.  39 1 

the  lines  of  missions — domestic  and  foreign.  He  was 
thus  for  years  in  spirit  with  the  progress  and  labors  of 
American  Presbyterianism. 

The  Ground  Taken. — The  Western  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society  boldly  took  the  ground  that  it  was  national 
in  its  character,  and  it  carried  out  that  principle  to  its 
legitimate  result,  by  inviting  the  cooperation  of  all  Pres- 
byterian churches,  presbyteries  and  synods,  and  by  im- 
plication that  of  the  General  Assembly  itself.  The  synod 
had  taken  an  irrevocable  step  toward  the  solution  of  the 
problem :  should  not  the  church  and  its  representatives 
be  ex  officio  a  missionary  society,  and  not  be  a  mere  aux- 
iliary to  a  composite  or  voluntary  association,  though  it 
may  have  been,  hitherto,  admirably  managed,  yet  irre- 
sponsible to  any  organized  body  or  denomination  ? 


XL. 

Unsubstantial  Rumors. 

A  number  of  rumors  were  at  this  time  afloat  in  in- 
telligent church  and  theological  circles,  concerning  cer- 
tain defections  from  the  orthodox  and  essential  doctrines 
held  by  the  great  majority  of  the  Congregational  min- 
istry and  of  the  fairly  read  members  of  that  church. 
These  rumors  were  not  traced  to  their  origin  and  thus 
verified  or  disproved,  as  they  should  have  been,  but  were 
permitted  for  some  time  to  pass  virtually  uncontradicted, 
and  in  consequence  they  became  greatly  exaggerated  and 
many  believed  them  to  be  founded  on  facts.  There  ap- 
peared, at  most,  only  one  center  whence  the  evil  was 
emanating,  yet  in  certain  quarters  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  almost  the  entire  Congregational  ministry  were 
treated  in  a  suspicious  manner,  as  if  they  all  were  in  sym- 
pathy with  these  reputed  errors.  Hundreds  of  devout 
men,  pastors  of  Congregational  churches,  were  as  much 
opposed  to  the  doctrines  deemed  erroneous  that  were 
promulgated  from  that  center,  as  were  the  ministers 
trained  as  Presbyterians.  It  was  reasonable  that  the  ob- 
servant and  leading  minds  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
should  take  alarm  at  these  defections,  thus  reported,  since 
numbers  of  young  ministers  were  coming  from  New 
England  into  the  service  of  their  church.  These  young 
men  often  located  in  different  portions  of  New  York 
State  and  in  the  Western  Reserve,  but  perhaps  the  half, 
if  not  more,  cast  their  lot  with  the  Presbyterians  of  the 
Great  West. 


UNSUBSTANTIAL    RUMORS.  393 

An  animated  discussion  of  the  subject  was  carried  on 
between  prominent  clergymen  in  New  England,  New 
York  State,  and  New  Jersey.  Professor  Leonard  Woods, 
of  Andover  Seminary,  expressed  the  general  sentiment 
when  he  said :  "I  believe  that  there  is  an  alarming  loose- 
ness among  young  preachers,  and  that  there  is  a  fixed 
determination  to  maintain  a  party  holding  loose  opin- 
ions." The  "young  preachers"  alluded  to  were  under- 
stood to  have  been  educated  in  the  New  Haven  school  * 
or  seminary.  Other  clergymen  wrote  of  the  "loose  specu- 
lations which  have  come  from  that  school ;"  and  the  fear 
was  expressed  that  these  "notions  would  undermine  the 
fair  fabric  of  our  evangelical  churches  and  spread  a  sys- 
tem, unscriptural  and  pernicious."  The  Presbyterians  of 
Middle  New  York  and  of  the  Western  Reserve,  as  a 
general  rule,  came  more  specially  in  contact  with  these 
discordant  elements,  because  of  their  intermingling  in 
churches  organized  in  accordance  with  the  plan  of  union. 

Conflict  of  Theological  Opinions. — During  the  year 
1831  what  proved  to  be  a  prominent  cause  of  disquiet 
in  the  churches  was  suddenly  brought  into  public  notice 
in  New  England.  It  was  in  relation  to  a  conflict  of  the- 
ological opinions.  Professor  Nathaniel  W.  Taylor  of  the 
Divinity  School  of  Yale  College,  was  credited  with  hold- 
ing views  in  respect  to  the  atonement  that  contravened 
the  doctrines  on  that  subject  as  held  not  only  in  the  Con- 
gregational but  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  was 
charged  that  he  "virtually  and  substantially  rejected" 
the  orthodox  view  of  the  atonement.  These  views  of 
Dr.  Taylor  were  strongly  contested  by  Professor  Leon- 
ard Woods  of  Andover  Seminary  and  Professor  Bennet 
Tyler.  Presbyterian  papers  also  joined  in  the  discussion, 
notably  the  Christian  Advocate  of  Philadelphia,  edited 
by  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  former  President  of  Princeton 
College.  This  controversy  elicited  the  attention  of  the 
27 


394         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

leading  minds  in  religious  circles,  especially  among  those 
who  were  known  as  Calvinistic. 

The  reason  why  the  Presbyterians  took  so  much  in- 
terest in  these  conflicts  of  theological  opinions  was  that 
numbers  of  young  ministers  trained  under  such  influ- 
ences were  coming  into  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
question  suggested  itself  to  some  minds:  can  a  minister 
holding  the  views  attributed  to  Dr.  Taylor,  really  and 
truly  preach  Christ  crucified?  Dr.  Taylor's  forms  of  ex- 
pression were  of  a  metaphysical  character,  and  therefore 
susceptible  of  being  differently  interpreted,  and  often  in 
accordance  with  the  predilections  of  the  reader  or  hearer. 
Said  the  venerable  Dr.  John  Holt  Rice,  when  writing  of 
these  theological  discussions :  "The  evangelical  men  are 
disputing,  some  for  old  orthodoxy  and  some  for  nezv 
metaphysics."  And  again :  "I  do  not  know  what  our 
brother  Taylor  is  driving  at.  I  find  it  hard  to  understand 
him.  Is  the  fault  in  me  or  in  him?"  Dr.  Rice  thus  ex- 
pressed the  sentiments  of  hundreds  of  educated  men  on 
the  theological  opinions  of  Dr.  Taylor.  These  meta- 
physical theories  became  a  fruitful  source  of  theological 
speculations;  even  if  the  latter  were  harmless  to  their 
authors,  they  did  more  or  less  injury  to  the  church  at 
large. 

Nezv  Measures. — In  connection,  in  time,  with  these 
discussions  revivals  in  certain  portions  of  the  church 
were  in  progress.  These  were  conducted,  for  the  most 
part,  by  the  aid  of  evangelists  for  whose  employment  ar- 
rangements were  made.  They  preached  as  to  length  of 
time  according  to  the  interest  manifested  by  the  audi- 
ences in  attendance;  sometimes  the  meetings  continued 
for  weeks  and  even  months.  Some  of  these  evangelists 
introduced  what  were  termed  "new  measures,"  that  were 
extreme  in  their  character  and,  to  say  the  least,  were 
often   injudicious,   but   despite    these   hindrances,    great 


UNSUBSTANTIAL    RUMORS.  395 

good  was  done.  They  left,  somewhat,  the  beaten  track 
of  routine  preaching  and  strenuously  made  their  assaults 
upon  sin  and  worldliness  in  an  aggressive  manner  that 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  unconverted,  more  than 
hitherto.  Their  labors  were  wonderfully  blessed,  and 
thousands  of  souls  were  brought  to  Christ  from  the  out- 
side world. 

In  Western  New  York  were  prominent  scenes  of  these 
revivals,  and  in  connection  with  them  Rev.  Charles  S. 
Finney  adopted  measures  that  were  disapproved  by  such 
eminent  ministers  as  Dr.  Asahel  Nettleton — a  graduate 
of  Yale  College  and  Seminary,  and  himself  a  remarkably 
successful  revivalist — and  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher.  But  as 
usual  under  similar  conditions,  Mr.  Finney  had  many 
imitators,  who  carried  these  novelties  still  further  than 
he  did  himself.  "There  were  extravagances  and  ques- 
tionable measures,  indiscretions  of  men  who  hastily  as- 
sumed the  office  of  evangelists,  and  which  only  worked 
mischief;  but  the  results,  sad  as  they  were  in  some  re- 
spects, were  by  no  means  such  as  permanently  to  affect 
the  integrity  of  the  churches  as  a  body."     (G.,  11. ,  p. 

457-)  ... 

Unjust  Suspicions. — Accounts  of  these  scenes  were  pub- 
lished and  distributed  far  and  wide,  and  unfortunately  were 
often  exaggerated.  For  the  greater  part,  these  scenes  were 
enacted  in  connection  with  Presbyterian  churches,  which, 
more  or  less,  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  plan  of  union, 
and  in  consequence,  right  or  wrong,  these  objectionable 
measures  were  associated  with  the  views  of  theology 
emanating  from  New  Haven,  with  which  all  New  Eng- 
land was  unreasonably  credited.  This  assumption,  made 
without  proper  discrimination,  did  great  injustice  to  some 
of  the  best  Congregational  clergymen  in  the  latter  sec- 
tion, as  well  as  to  some  of  the  most  liberal-minded  and 
successful    pastors    among    Presbyterians,    especially    in 


396         A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

the  cities  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  latter 
were  thoroughly  evangelical,  and  were  equally  aggress- 
ive as  the  evangelists  mentioned  above,  in  their  assaults 
upon  sin  in  every  form,  and  yet  without  resorting  to 
measures  of  doubtful  propriety.  The  Head  of  the  church 
blessed  their  labors  abundantly,  yet  in  certain  quarters  of 
the  church  these  men  were  deemed  not  orthodox,  but  the 
advocates  of  errors  that  would  eliminate  the  vital  prin- 
ciples of  the  standards  of  the  Church.  These  suspicions, 
it  was  said,  were  put  forth  by  those  who  were  so  ex- 
tremely conservative  as  to  preach  their  congregations 
into  a  semi-comatose  condition.  The  measures  and 
forms  of  expression  used  by  many  workers  in  the  Sal- 
vation Army  of  to-day  grate  upon  the  critical  taste  of  the 
refined  and  educated,  but  they  reach  a  class  that  the  cul- 
tured and  equally  spiritually  minded  preachers  have 
never  fully  reached  and,  perhaps,  never  will. 

We  will  not  go  into  detail  by  citing  examples.  It  is  a 
sad  reflection  that  devout  ministers  and  whom  the  Mas- 
ter greatly  blessed  in  their  work,  and  whose  names  tra- 
dition has  cherished  in  the  memories  and  affections  of 
the  descendants  of  those  to  whom  they  ministered,  should 
have  been  the  victims  of  such  unwarranted  suspicions. 
It  was  natural  that  Presbyterians  living  beyond  the  im- 
mediate bounds  of  these  scenes  became  alarmed  because 
of  their  influence,  especially  when  it  was  rumored  that 
some  of  the  presbyteries,  apparently  in  accordance  with 
the  general  principles  of  the  plan  of  union  as  now  inter- 
preted, received  ministers  from  Congregational  associa- 
tions without  requiring  their  assent  fully  to  the  standards 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

An  Important  Rule  Adopted. — The  assembly  of  1830 
adopted  a  rule  by  which  "ordained  ministers  [when 
about  to  enter  the  Presbyterian  Church]  were  required 
to  give  their  assent  to  the  questions  proposed   to  the 


UNSUBSTANTIAL    RUMORS.  397 

licentiates  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  when  about  to  be 
ordained."  This  rule  had  not  been  complied  with  in 
some  instances.  In  the  assembly  of  1832  the  Western 
Reserve  Synod  was  charged  with  being  delinquent  in 
that  respect.  In  its  reply  to  the  charge  the  following 
year  the  synod  declared  to  the  assembly  there  was  no 
ground  for  the  complaint  since  the  promulgation  of  the 
rule  in  1830.  That  synod  had  more  churches  organized 
on  the  basis  of  the  plan  of  union  than,  perhaps,  any  other 
and  it  admitted  that  previous  to  the  time  when  the  rule 
was  made  some  of  its  presbyteries  had  received  min- 
isters "without  the  formal  profession  of  adopting  the 
Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  In 
this  reply,  however,  cropped'  out  unpresbyterial  opinions 
in  respect  to  the  eldership  when  it  said  that  "the  inter- 
mingling of  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians  in 
many  churches  was  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  non-exist- 
ence of  the  eldership,  according  to  the  conditions  of  the 
plan  of  union."  The  assembly  accepted  the  report,  but 
repudiated  the  views  of  the  synod  in  relation  to  the  elder- 
ship. 

Ministers  Ordained  Injudiciously. — Other  causes  of 
irritation  and  complaint  were  in  existence.  When  young 
men  were  licensed  to  preach  it  had  not  been  the  custom 
to  ordain  them  immediately,  but  for  them  to  exercise 
their  qualifications  for  some  time,  virtually  as  probation- 
ers; unless  the  circumstances  were  urgent,  as,  for  illus- 
tration, when  the  candidate  was  going  on  a  foreign  mis- 
sion. It  was  quite  different  when  the  candidate  was 
expected  to  labor  at  home,  and  within  the  bounds  of  an- 
other presbytery ;  in  that  case  the  rule,  the  outgrowth 
of  propriety  and  of  Christian  courtesy,  dictated  that  the 
ordination  should  be  performed  by  the  presbytery  within 
whose  bounds  he  was  laboring.  A  memorial  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  1834  complained  of  this  custom.     It 


398         A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Stated  that  recently  eighteen  young  men  had  been  licensed 
and  at  once  ordained  by  two  presbyteries — that  of  New- 
buryport,  Mass.,  and  the  Third,  of  New  York  City. 
These  ministers,  for  the  greater  part,  were  commissioned 
to  preach  within  the  bounds  of  other  presbyteries,  but 
in  the  service  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society.  Their 
fields  of  labor  were  designated  mostly  in  the  West,  and 
from  that  region  came  the  "Cincinnati  Memorial"  to 
the  assembly,  protesting  against  the  custom.  The  me- 
morial was  signed  by  eighteen  ministers  and  ninety-nine 
elders.  It  was  also  said  that  other  young  men  were  thus 
occasionally  licensed  and  ordained  by  Congregational 
bodies,  and  who,  also,  were  destined  to  labor  within  the 
bounds  of  presbyteries  and  in  the  service  of  the  same 
society.  The  plan  of  union  was  credited  with  opening 
the  way  to  these  irregularities,  since  by  its  provisions 
men  were  admitted  to  the  presbyteries  who  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  presbyterial  polities,  and  this  was  deemed 
an  "evil  operating  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  toward 
the  general  change  of  its  form  of  government  and  the 
character  of  its  creed."     {G.,  II.,  p.  48 S-) 


XLI. 

The  Trial  of  Albert  Barnes. 

In  1830,  amid  the  clashing  of  theological  opinions  in 
the  Congregational  Church,  and  whose  influence  pro- 
duced a  similar  agitation  in  the  Presbyterian,  Albert 
Barnes  became  colleague  to  Dr.  James  P.  Wilson  {see  p. 
2^2)  in  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Barnes  was  a  native  of  New  York 
State,  born  in  1798;  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  College 
and  of  Princeton  Seminary;  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1823,  and  is  described  as  a  "thoughtful,  spiritual 
preacher."  When  invited  to  this  new  field  of  labor  he 
had  been  for  about  six  years  a  successful  pastor  at  Mor- 
ristown.  New  Jersey.  We  may,  in  passing,  note  that  he 
never  accepted  a  college  title  or  degree. 

The  Sermon. — Previously  to  his  removal  to  Phila- 
delphia Mr.  Barnes  had  published  a  sermon,  entitled 
"The  Way  of  Salvation."  In  it  were  some  "unguarded 
expressions,"  as  was  admitted  freely,  and  to  these  excep- 
tion was  taken,  attention  being  drawn  to  them,  perhaps, 
partly  in  consequence  of  the  theological  controversies 
going  on  at  the  time.  When  the  church  in  the  usual 
form  asked  leave  of  the  presbytery  to  prosecute  the  call 
to  Mr.  Barnes,  and  a  motion  to  that  effect  was  made, 
Dr.  Ashbel  Green  opposed  it,  basing  his  objections  on  the 
expressions  in  the  sermon,  to  which  allusion  has  been 
made.  Dr.  Green  contended  that  fundamental  errors 
were  contained  in  the  sermon. 

A  spirited  discussion  ensued,  lasting  for  four  days. 


400         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

and  in  which  many  members  of  the  presbytery  took  part. 
The  ministerial  character  of  the  accused  was  referred  to 
as  that  of  a  devoted  pastor,  even  by  some  who  differed 
from  him  in  the  views  expressed  in  the  sermon.  Others 
deemed  the  opposition  out  of  order,  unfair,  and  unkind, 
since  Mr.  Barnes  was  not  a  member  of  the  presbytery; 
they  argued,  let  the  call  be  presented  in  the  usual  form, 
and  when  he  becomes  a  member,  it  will  be  in  order  to  put 
him  on  trial.  The  presbytery  voted,  twenty-one  to 
twelve,  to  grant  the  request  of  the  church.  Within  a 
month's  time  Mr.  Barnes  presented  his  certificate  of  dis- 
missal from  the  Presbytery  of  Elizabethtown,  with  the 
usual  recommendation  to  that  of  Philadelphia.  His  re- 
ception was  vehemently  objected  to  by  his  opponents, 
but  the  presbytery,  by  a  vote  of  thirty  to  sixteen,  re- 
ceived him  as  a  member.  When  the  presbytery  after- 
ward met  to  install  him  as  pastor,  the  minority,  in  order 
to  prevent  that  action,  presented  charges  against  him, 
but  in  very  general  terms — "for  unsoundness  in  the 
Faith."  The  moderator  ruled  the  presentation  of  the 
charges  out  of  order,  "as  the  present  meeting  was  called 
for  a  special  purpose." 

The  Appeal  to  the  Synod. — The  minority  (October  27, 
1830)  then  appealed  to  the  synod,  which  sustained  the 
appeal  and  enjoined  the  presbytery  to  hear  and  decide  in 
relation  to  the  orthodoxy  of  the  sermon.  Within  a  month 
the  presbytery  met  to  act  in  compliance  with  the  injunc- 
tion of  the  synod.  Charges  were  now  presented  against 
the  doctrines  said  to  be  contained  in  the  sermon,  and  at 
great  length  by  Dr.  Green.  This  document  contained 
many  charges  as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  Mr.  Barnes  and 
also  implied  censures.  He  urged  the  presbytery  to  adopt 
his  paper  as  its  own,  but  by  a  decisive  vote  that  propo- 
sition was  declined.  On  the  other  hand,  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Barnes  contended  that  the  mode  of  procedure  was 


'^^K^^^-' 


Rev.  Albert  Barnes. 
(399,  401-407,  415-) 


THE    TRIAL    OF    ALBERT  BARNES.  4OI 

unconstitutional,  and  they  entered  their  protest  against 
such  action  as  "cliarges  being  presented  without  re- 
sponsible accusers,"  which  mode  was  contrary  to  the 
discipline  of  the  church  or  book.  Mr.  Barnes  requested 
the  presbytery  to  put  him  on  trial,  "either  on  the  ground 
of  common  fame  or  by  responsible  accusers,"  but  the 
request  was  refused;  he  then  gave  notice  that  he  should 
appeal  to  the  General  Assembly.  Strange  to  say,  the 
presbytery  declared  he  had  no  right  to  such  appeal,  "on 
the  ground  that  he  had  not  submitted  to  a  trial."  Char- 
ity, at  this  distance,  would  say  that  these  good  men  must 
have  had  in  mind  his  refusal  to  be  tried  in  the  mode 
which  they  themselves  had  proposed — that  is  to  say,  the 
accusers  being  also  judges. 

The  Matter  Submitted. — Finally,  by  both  parties  con- 
jointly, the  whole  matter  was  submitted,  without  argu- 
ment, to  the  assembly  of  1831.  That  body  referred  the 
case  to  a  select  committee.  The  latter,  after  investigat- 
ing the  whole  subject,  made  their  report,  in  which,  after 
complimenting  the  presbytery  for  its  zeal  in  striving  to 
preserve  the  purity  of  the  church,  and  noting  "some  un- 
guarded and  objectionable  passages"  in  the  sermon,  rec- 
ommended that  the  presbytery  suspend  further  proceed- 
ings in  the  case.  The  report,  which  virtually  acquitted 
Mr.  Barnes,  was  adopted  by  the  assembly. 

Elective.  Affinity. — The  assembly,  at  the  same  time, 
recommended  that  the  presbytery  should  divide  itself  in 
such  manner  as  to  promote  peace  within  its  bounds. 
This  was  merely  a  compromise  to  be  brought  about  by 
applying  the  principle  of  "elective  affinity,"  by  which  the 
parties  in  the  controversy  could  form  a  new  presbytery 
out  of  the  old,  not  limited  by  geographical  lines,  but 
based  on  the  similarity  of  views — that  is,  the  conserva- 
tives in  one  presbytery  and  the  liberals  in  another.  This 
was  only  an  expedient  for  the  time  being,  and  a  fallacious 


402  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

one  at  that;  the  theory  of  elective  affinity  in  constituting 
presbyteries  or  synods,  because  of  its  pernicious  influ- 
ence, was  ere  long  repudiated  by  both  parties  (1835). 

We  shall  not  impose  upon  the  patience  of  the  reader 
a  detailed  account  of  the  various  forms  of  conflict  that 
ensued  during  several  years  between  successive  assem- 
blies and  the  synods  of  Philadelphia  and  Delaware,  and 
their  respective  presbyteries.  The  agitation  lasted  about 
six  years,  to  1836,  and  thus  infringed  upon  the  Christian 
harmony  that  ought  to  have  prevailed,  as  the  outgrowth 
of  mutual  concessions  based  on  the  recognition  of  the 
purity  of  motive  of  both  the  parties,  while  acknowledg- 
ing that  neither  was  infallible. 

Biblical  Notes. — During  these  years  of  turmoil,  Albert 
Barnes,  the  laborious  student  and  faithful  pastor,  was 
preparing  a  series  of  notes  on  the  gospels.  These  were 
designed  to  supply  a  great  want  in  religious  communi- 
ties for  a  more  simple  and  concise  commentary  than  the 
ponderous  ones  of  Henry,  Scott,  and  others.  It  was 
soon  recognized  by  lay  teachers  that  the  notes  were  well 
adapted  to  aid  them  in  giving  instruction  in  Sunday- 
schools  and  the  Bible  classes.  In  1832  the  notes  on 
Matthew  were  issued,  and  three  years  later  appeared 
those  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

The  Second  Trial. — Rev.  Dr.  George  Junkin — who 
had  come  into  the  Presbyterian  Church  from  the  Asso- 
ciate Reformed — a  member  of  another  presbytery  and  of 
a  different  synod,  took  exception  to  certain  views  pre- 
sented in  the  notes  on  Romans,  which  he  thought  con- 
travened the  standards  of  the  church.  He  presented 
charges  against  Mr.  Barnes  before  his  presbytery,  Phila- 
delphia Second,  which  then  belonged  to  the  Synod  of 
Delaware.  The  indictment  contained  ten  specifications. 
The  presbytery  patiently  reviewed  all  of  them,  and  in 
its    decision    acquitted    Mr.    Barnes,    as    it    deemed    the 


THE    TRIAL    OF    ALBERT     BARNES.  403 

charges  had  not  been  sustained,  as  they  were  based  on 
"inferences  drawn  from  the  language  of  Mr.  Barnes." 
The  presbytery  illustrated,  saying  that  mere  "infer- 
ences" were  not  a  legitimate  basis  on  which  "to  convict 
of  heresy  or  dangerous  error,  affecting  a  sinner's  hope 
or  the  Christian's  to  eternal  life."  And  that  he  had  not 
taught  in  his  "Notes  on  Romans,"  "any  dangerous  errors 
or  heresies  contrary  to  the  word  of  God  and  our  stand- 
ards." The  presbytery  cited  as  a  precedent  for  their  not 
admitting  charges  based  on  inferences,  the  decision  on 
that  point  in  1824,  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  famous 
trial  of  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Craighead. 

Since  this  case  has  been  referred  to  as  a  precedent 
in  subsequent  trials,  the  intelligent  Presbyterian  reader 
will  appreciate  the  following  extract  from  the  min- 
utes of  the  assembly  of  1824:  "A  man  cannot 
be  fairly  convicted  of  heresy  for  using  expressions 
which  may  be  so  interpreted  as  to  involve  heret- 
ical doctrines,  if  they  also  admit  of  a  more  favor- 
able construction  ...  he  has  a  right  to  explain  him- 
self; and  in  such  cases,  candor  requires  that  a  court 
should  favor  the  accused,  by  putting  on  his  words  the 
more  favorable,  rather  than  the  less  favorable  construc- 
tion. No  man  can  rightly  be  convicted  of  heresy  by 
inference  or  implication;  that  is,  we  must  not  charge  an 
accused  person  with  holding  those  consequences  which 
may  legitimately  flow  from  his  assertions  .  .  .  it  is 
not  right  to  charge  any  man  with  an  opinion  which  he 
disavows.     (See  Minutes  of  that  General  Assembly.) 

Dr.  Junkin  appealed  from  the  decision  of  the  presby- 
tery to  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  (1835).  Under  the 
rule  the  records  of  a  presbytery  are  subject  to  the  re- 
vision of  its  synod,  but  the  presbytery  refused  to  give  up 
the  records  of  the  case,  because  at  the  time  of  the  trial 


404  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

it  was  subject  to  the  Synod  of  Delaware,  which  in  the 
meantime  had  been  dissolved.  The  synod  censured  the 
presbytery  for  its  refusal  to  comply  with  the  former's 
request.  Mr.  Barnes,  under  these  circumstances,  pre- 
sented a  paper  giving  his  reasons  for  his  action,  and  then 
withdrew.  The  synod,  however,  went  on  and  heard  Dr. 
Junkin  in  his  plea,  and  at  its  close,  in  mere  form,  the 
name  of  Albert  Barnes  was  called,  but  of  course  he  did 
not  appear.  The  synod  at  once,  on  the  ex-par te  plea  of 
Dr.  Junkin,  "suspended  Mr.  Barnes  from  the  exercise  of 
all  the  functions  proper  to  the  gospel  ministry." 

The  Appeal  to  the  General  Assembly. — Mr.  Barnes 
then,  in  due  form,  gave  notice  of  his  intended  appeal  to 
the  General  Assembly.  The  latter  met  in  Pittsburg  in 
May,  1836,  and  numbered  two  hundred  and  fifty  mem- 
bers. It  spent  one  week  in  carefully  hearing  the  case,  and 
the  result  was  that  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Barnes  was  sus- 
tained by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  to  ninety- 
six.  In  addition,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  to  seventy  eight,  was  reversed  the  decree  of  the 
synod  suspending  him  from  the  gospel  ministry.  As 
soon  as  the  vote  was  announced,  the  minority  introduced 
a  resolution,  prefacing  it  in  substance  that,  as  he  had 
published  in  his  "Notes  on  Romans"  opinions  contraven- 
ing the  Confession  of  Faith,  that  he  be  enjoined  to  "again 
revise  the  work  and  modify  still  further  the  statements 
which  had  grieved  his  brethren." 

The  Synod  of  Philadelphia  being  a  party  in  the  case, 
was,  by  the  rule,  excluded  from  voting  on  this  resolu- 
tion. The  latter  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-two  to  one  hundred  and  nine.  This  vote 
elicited  a  protest  from  the  minority,  and  in  answering 
that  protest  an  opportunity  was  given  the  majority  to 
express  their  sentiments  more  fully.  They  asked 
"Whether   a   man   who   held   views   at   the   time   of   his 


Rev.  Matthew  Brown,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

(134, 324, 325.) 


THE    TRIAL    OF    ALBERT     BARNES.  405 

licensure  and  ordination,  who  had  held  and  preached  them 
for  ten  years,  and  who  held  them  in  common  with  no  small 
part  of  two  thousand  ministers  in  the  same  connection, 
was  to  be  allowed  peaceably  to  hold  them  still,  and  to 
labor  under  the  influence  of  these  views  in  endeavoring 
to  save  souls;  or  whether  he  was  to  be  pronounced  heret- 
ical and  unsound,  his  character  to  be  ruined,  so  far  as  a 
decision  of  his  brethren  could  ruin  it,  himself  to  be  har- 
assed in  his  feelings,  embarrassed  in  his  preaching,  and 
the  large  number  of  ministers,  elders,  and  communicants 
in  the  churches,  who  held  the  same  views,  declared  un- 
worthy an  office,  a  name,  and  a  place  in  the  church  of 
God?'' 

Though  the  resolution  mentioned  above  did  not  pass 
in  the  Assembly,  yet  Mr.  Barnes,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
appearance  of  disrespect  toward  his  brethren  who  opposed 
him,  did  afterward,  voluntarily,  revise  the  "Notes  on 
Romans,"  and  without  changing  his  views,  used  forms 
of  expression  that  were  not  obnoxious  to  those  who  dif- 
fered from  him  more  in  words  than  in  doctrine.  He  at 
once  resumed  his  pastoral  duties,  and  was  cheered  by 
being  welcomed  back  by  an  affectionate  people.  During 
almost  six  years  he  had  undergone  these  harassing  trials, 
and  yet  he  was  never  heard  to  utter  a  harsh  word  nor 
manifest  defiance  of  ecclesiastical  authorit.y,  but  in  a  self- 
respecting  manner  and  Christian  spirit  abided  the  time 
when  his  integrity  would  be  vindicated.  For  nearly 
thirty-five  years  after  this  trial,  Albert  Barnes  remained 
in  charge  of  the  same  church,  laboring  as  a  writer  and 
pastor,  with  almost  unexampled  industry,  as  long  as  his 
health  permitted,  till  in  his  seventy-second  year  he  was 
called  home  by  the  Master.  With  a  Christian's  cheerful 
vision  he  wrote  these,  almost  his  last  written  words :  "I 
shall  close  my  eyes  in  death  with  bright  and  glorious 


4o6  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

hopes  in  regard  to  my  native  land,  to  the  church,  and  to 
the  world  at  large." 

Bible  Study  Promoted. — It  is  only  just  in  this  connec- 
tion to  notice  a  remarkable  movement  and  its  correspond- 
ing influence  that  originated  with  Albert  Barnes.  God 
in  His  providence  used  him  to  promote  in  a  marked  de- 
gree the  study  of  the  Bible,  especially  among  Ameri- 
can youth.  Seeing  the  want  of  a  more  concise  and 
clearly  defined  commentary  on  the  word  of  God,  and 
one  better  adapted  for  giving  instruction  in  Sunday- 
school  and  Bible  classes  than  the  ponderous  volumes  of 
Henry,  Scott,  and  others,  he  issued  in  1832  "Notes  on 
the  Gospel  of  Matthew."  The  good  effects  of  the  work 
were  soon  seen  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  inspired  the 
Bible  teachers  themselves  and  in  the  reflex  influence 
upon  their  classes,  by  creating  in  their  members 
a  corresponding  interest  in  the  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures and  their  history.  The  earnestness  in  thus 
studying  on  the  part  of  both  teachers  and  pu- 
pils was  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  being  familiar 
with  the  spirit  of  piety,  and  of  the  judicious,  concise, 
and  suggestive  manner  in  which  the  "Notes"  were 
written.  Here  was  the  beginning  of  what  has  since  been 
done  on  that  line  of  instructing  the  youth  of  the  land — 
from  the  infant  class  upward — in  Bible  knowledge  and 
in  leading  multitudes  of  them  to  the  Saviour. 

The  notes  were  popular  because  they  were  useful  for 
instructing  Bible  classes,  and  the  work  went  on  with  in- 
creased zeal  among  the  youth  of  all  the  Protestant  denomi- 
nations. Meantime,  as  experience  dictated,  were  pre- 
pared and  published  simpler  froms  of  instruction  for  the 
younger  scholars.  In  order  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
the  work,  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  teachers  and  peo- 
ple being  propitious,  the  "International  Sunday-school 
Lessons"  were  introduced.     That  system  has  had  an  in- 


THE    TRIAL    OF    ALBERT     BARNES.  407 

creasing  influence  in  directing  the  attention  of  Christian 
parents  and  teachers  and  youth  throughout  the  Union 
to  the  practical  study  of  the  word  of  God — a  stimulus 
to  which  was  that  of  the  same  lesson  on  the  same 
day  throughout  the  land.  During  the  last  twenty-five 
years  these  lessons  have  been  an  instrument  in  leading 
millions  of  American  young  people  to  become  Christian 
and  among  them  has  originated  that  most  important 
movement,  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  other 
kindred  associations.  The  beneficial  influence  of  these 
is  recognized  to-day  in  all  the  Protestant  churches  of  the 
land.  This  influence  will  tell  still  more  in  the  next  gen- 
eration, when  these  young  people  will  have  become  heads 
of  families,  and  will  train  their  children  in  the  same 
Christian  principles. 

The  Example  Followed. — Following  the  example  of 
Mr.  Barnes  were  others  who  wrote  notes  or  brief  com- 
mentaries on  separate  books  of  the  New  Testament.  In 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  Professor  Charles  Hodge  of 
Princeton  wrote  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  Pro- 
fessor Melanthon  W.  Jacobus  of  Allegheny  Seminary, 
on  the  Gospels  and  on  Genesis.  Since  then  numbers  of 
brief  commentaries  on  single  books  of  the  Bible  have 
been  published  by  writers  of  different  denominations. 

Terms  of  Distinction. — About  this  time  came  into  use 
the  terms  Old  and  New  School,  to  designate  the  parties 
that  had  come  into  existence  within  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  They  correspond  very  nearly  to  the  terms 
Old  and  New  Side,  used  for  a  similar  purpose  in  the 
church,  about  one  hundred  years  previous.  {See  pages 
152,  153') 


XLII. 
The  Trial  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher. 

The  period  in  which  occurred  the  trial  of  Mr.  Barnes 
was  fruitful  of  similar  ecclesiastical  trials  elsewhere  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Rev.  (Dr.)  George  Duffield, 
pastor  of  a  church  in  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  published  a 
sermon  on  Regeneration,  to  which  exception  was 
taken.  His  trial  was  attempted,  but  in  an  irregular  and 
unconstitutional  way,  and  in  consequence  it  came  to  no 
definite  results.  Meantime,  Dr.  Duffield  accepted  a  call 
to  a  church  in  Philadelphia,  and  thither  he  removed  and 
became  a  member  of  another  presbytery  and  the  prosecu- 
tion was  dropped  (1835). 

A  Feeling  of  Unrest. — In  portions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  prevailed  a  feeling  of  unrest,  in  respect  to  certain 
opinions  on  theolog}%  which  were  deemed  inconsistent 
with  its  accepted  standards,  and  rumor  reported  that 
these  objectionable  opinions  were  held  by  some  of  its 
ministers.  During  a  few  years  previous  to  the  time  of 
which  we  write,  much  interest  was  elicited  among  intelli- 
gent Christian  citizens,  both  East  and  West,  in  relation  to 
the  religious  condition  and  future  moral  prospects  of  the 
Great  valley.  {See  p.  340.)  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  who 
as  we  have  already  noted  (p.  320),  was  elected  by  the 
directors  to  the  chair  of  theology  in  the  newly  founded 
Lane  Seminary  at  Walnut  Hills  near  Cincinnati  (1832). 
Dr.  Beecher,  though  a  native  of  New  England,  was  a 
Presbyterian  in  his  views  of  theology  and  also  of  church 
polity.    On  examination  he  was  ordained  by  the  Presby- 


THE     TRIAL     OF     DR.     LYMAN     BEECHER.  409 

tery  of  Long  Island,  and  he  signed  "the  confession  as  a 
systematic  view  of  the  truths  contained  in  the  word  of 
God."  His  first  pastorate  was  at  East  Hampton,  on  that 
island,  and  when  there  was  sent  as  a  commissioner  to  the 
General  Assembly.  He  remained  for  about  ten  years  at 
Hampton,  and  then  removed  to  Litchfield,  Connecticut. 
While  there  he  preached  and  published  his  sermons  on 
intemperance,  famous  because  they  gave  the  first  effective 
impulse  to  the  cause  of  temperance  in  the  Union.  In 
1826  he  went  to  Boston  and  became  the  pastor  of  the 
Hanover  Street  Congregational  Church. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  an  unwarranted  prejudice 
against  the  orthodox  ministers  of  New  England,  even 
though  they  opposed  the  New  Haven  school,  did  pervade 
the  minds  of  certain  Presbyterian  clergymen  in  the  Mid- 
dle States  and  in  the  West.  This  circumstance  may  par- 
tially account  for  the  prosecution  of  Dr.  Beecher  before 
the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati,  by  Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson, 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  that  city. 

The  Recommendations. — The  appointment  of  Dr. 
Beecher  to  the  theological  chair  in  Lane  Seminary  was 
hailed  as  an  immense  gain  to  the  religious  force  in  the 
Great  valley,  by  many  eminent  clergymen  and  by  the 
intelligent  religious  public  generally.  He  had  also  the 
commendation  of  the  professors  at  Princeton,  who  had 
been  consulted,  and  of  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  afterward  one 
of  the  prosecutors  of  Albert  Barnes,  but  who  a  year  or 
two  previous  urged  Dr.  Beecher  to  accept  a  call  to  a 
church  in  Philadelphia.  And  even  Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson 
was  the  first  to  sign  a  letter  sent  by  a  committee  of  the 
trustees,  to  the  members  of  the  Hanover  Church,  urging 
them  to  sanction  Dr.  Beecher's  removal  to  Lane  Semi- 
nary, giving  as  a  reason  the  benefits  that  would  accrue 
to  that  institution,  saying:  "We  feel  that  the  church  will 
be  deprived  of  his  most  important  service  and  influence 
28 


4IO  A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

unless  he  is  permitted  to  impress  the  important  Hneaments 
of  his  character  upon  the  rising  ministers  of  the  West;" 
and  much  more  in  the  same  strain.  {The  Trial,  pp. 
26,  27.) 

Disproved  Suspicions. — Soon  after  Dr.  Beecher 
entered  upon  his  professorship  unfounded  suspicions,  as 
it  was  afterward  proved,  became  rife  as  to  his  orthodoxy; 
that  is,  from  the  standpoint  of  Dr.  Wilson  and  a  few 
others.  It  was  used  to  the  disadvantage  of  Dr.  Beecher 
that  he  had  brought  a  certificate  and  recommendation 
from  the  Congregational  Church  in  Boston  to  the  Third 
Presbytery  of  New  York  City,  and  from  that  body  to  the 
Presbytery  in  Cincinnati.  In  New  York  City  at  that 
time  were  three  presbyteries:  New  York  proper,  the 
Second,  and  the  Third — the  latter  does  not  appear  on  the 
minutes  of  the  General  Assembly  until  1831.  Why  a 
prejudice  was  entertained  in  respect  to  the  orthodoxy  of 
Dr.  Beecher,  in  the  minds  of  a  few  Presbyterian  leaders 
in  the  West,  seems  difficult  to  explain.  One  reason  has 
been  given,  that,  although  his  orthodoxy  was  unim- 
peached,  yet  he  had  brought  a  certificate  and  recom- 
mendation from  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York. 
Even  in  that  case  the  suspicion  could  not  have  been  based 
on  the  comparative  lack  of  Christian  work  and  success  in 
the  cause  of  Christ,  on  the  part  of  the  Third  Presbytery, 
since  in  the  four  years,  1831-1834  inclusive,  its  churches 
had  admitted  to  membership  on  examination  2843  P^^" 
sons,  while  the  churches  of  the  other  two  presbyteries 
combined,  during  the  same  time,  admitted  only  1352 — 
less  than  half  as  many  as  the  third  alone.  {Minutes  of 
Ass.  for  these  years.) 

The  Third  Presbytery  was  constituted  on  the  principle 
of  elective  affinity,  and  was  reckoned  on  the  New  School 
side  of  the  questions  then  at  issue  in  the  church.  This 
circumstance  was  assumed  by  the  same  parties  to  afford 


THE    TRIAL    OF     DR.    LYMAN     BEECHER.  41  I 

evidence  that  Dr.  Beecher  in  his  theology  was  not  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  standards  of  the  church ; — an  assumed 
offence,  with  which  they  also  charged  the  presbytery 
itself.  No  one  of  the  disaffected  was  willing,  however, 
to  take  the  responsibility  of  presenting  charges  against 
him  to  the  presbytery — that  is,  in  the  regular  and  con- 
stitutional form.  In  consequence,  an  effort  was  made  to 
attain  the  same  end  by  inducing  that  body  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  examine  Dr.  Beecher's  sermons,  ''and  re- 
port if  they  found  doctrines  at  variance  with  the  stand- 
ards of  the  church."  The  presbytery  refused  to  send  a 
committee  to  rummage  his  writings  for  any  such  purpose. 
Then  the  complaining  parties  appealed  to  the  synod,  but 
that  body  threw  out  the  appeal,  and  justified  the  Pres- 
bytery in  not  violating  the  rule  in  trying  a  member  when 
there  was  no  responsible  prosecutor ;  then  an  appeal  was 
made  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1834,  and  it  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and  the  latter  also 
recommended  to  throw  out  the  appeal,  in  which  action 
the  assembly  acquiesced.  Thus  the  entire  proceedings 
from  the  first  were  deemed  illegal  and  contrary  to  the 
rule  in  such  cases,  at  the  respective  sessions  of  these 
three  judicatures  of  the  church. 

At  length,  after  so  long  fighting  shy  01  the  responsi- 
bility, Dr.  Wilson,  the  prime  mover  of  the  affair,  pre- 
sented charges  against  Dr.  Beecher  in  the  regular  form 
before  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati.  These  charges  were 
grouped  under  seven  heads,  including  those  of  "slander" 
and  of  "hypocrisy  or  dissimilation."  Of  this  trial  we 
will  give  a  concise  account,  going  into  detail  sufficient 
only  for  that  purpose,  but  refer  the  reader  to  the  history 
of  the  trial  itself. 

Dr.  Beecher  and  Dr.  Wilson. — On  June  9,  1835,  the 
trial  was  commenced,  and  in  its  proceedings  was  mani- 
fested an  unprecedented  interest  on  the  part  of  the  whole 


412  A    HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

church,  and  also  in  a  large  and  intelligent  portion  of  the 
outside  community.  The  chief  parties  in  the  trial  were 
both  remarkable  men:  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  one  of 
the  most  successful  preachers,  competent  and  influential 
men  of  the  period.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
and  studied  theology  in  the  divinity  school  under  Dr. 
Timothy  Dwight;  had  had  much  influence  in  promoting 
the  cause  of  temperance,  and  success  in  religious  con- 
troversy. When  a  pastor  in  Boston  he  came  in  conflict 
with  the  most  learned  and  cultivated  minds  among  the 
Unitarians. 

Dr.  Joshua  Lacy  Wilson  was  born  in  Virginia,  but  in 
early  childhood  moved  with  his  parents  to  Kentucky. 
The  son  of  a  farmer  of  limited  means,  he  labored  as  a 
blacksmith,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  "he  had  no 
education  beyond  what  his  mother  taught  him."  He 
about  this  time  became  a  Christian,  and  selling  his  farm 
began  to  prepare  for  the  ministry  in  a  neighboring  acad- 
emy. He  had  no  college  education  of  which  to  speak, 
nor  systematic  instruction  in  theology,  but  he  was  men- 
tally unusually  gifted.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1802,  and  after  laboring  in  different  places  in  Kentucky 
as  a  minister,  was  called  in  1808  to  the  First  Pesbyterian 
Church  in  Cincinnati,  where  as  a  pastor  he  spent  thirty- 
eight  years.     {Davidson's  Hist.  Pres.  Church  in  Ky.,  pp. 

3H  3^5') 

The  Charges  Not  Sustained. — The  trial  continued  for 
several  days  and  was  conducted  with  great  skill  by  both 
parties;  but  the  presbytery,  by  a  vote  of  nearly  two  to 
one,  decided  that  the  charges  were  not  sustained.  Dr. 
Wilson  appealed  to  the  synod,  which,  within  a  few 
months,  met  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  before  that  body  the 
whole  case  was  again  gone  over  carefully.  The  synod 
decided  almost  unanimously — about  ten  to  one — as  the 
presbytery   had   done — that   the  charges   had   not   been 


THE     TRIAL    OF    DR.    LYMAN     BEECHER.  413 

sustained.  The  synod  adopted  a  minute  on  the  occasion. 
After  first  declaring  that  the  charges  "of  slander"  and 
"of  hypocrisy  and  dissimulation  were  not  proved,"  but 
by  way  of  explanation  the  minute  gives  "the  opinion  that 
Dr.  Beecher  had  indulged  a  disposition  to  philosophise, 
instead  of  exhibiting  in  simplicity  and  plainness  these 
doctrines  as  taught  in  the  Scriptures;  and  has  employed 
terms  and  phrases  and  modes  of  illustration  calculated 
to  convey  ideas  inconsistent  with  the  word  of  God  and 
our  Confession  of  Faith,  and  that  he  ought  to  be,  and 
he  is  hereby  admonished  to  be  more  guarded  in  the  fu- 
ture." Dr.  Beecher  acquiesced  promptly  in  the  decree  of 
the  synod,  which  also  requested  him  to  publish  a  concise 
statement  of  his  views  on  the  points  of  theology  involved 
in  the  charges,  among  which  was  specified  "Natural  and 
Moral  Ability."     {Biography  of  Dr.  B.,  II.,  p.  559.) 

After  some  hesitation,  Dr.  Wilson  announced  that  he 
should  appeal  to  the  General  Assembly,  which  was  to 
meet  in  Pittsburg  the  following  May,  1836. 

Dr.  Wilson  Withdraws  His  Appeal. — When  the  as- 
sembly of  1836  met  the  case  of  Mr.  Barnes,  already  noted, 
came  before  it  on  appeal,  and  as  it  involved,  virtually, 
the  same  principles  as  those  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Beecher, 
Dr.  Wilson  said  his  "friends  besought  him  earnestly  to 
withdraw  his  appeal" — which  he  did.  They  brought  for- 
ward several  reasons,  among  which  it  was  very  probable 
the  assembly  would  sustain  the  action  of  both  the  pres- 
bytery and  the  synod.  Is  it  uncharitable  to  suppose 
from  the  mental  characteristics  of  a  man — a  minister 
whose  judgment  and  plea  had  been  overruled  by  his  peers 
in  his  presbytery  and  also  in  his  synod,  and  that  by 
overwhelming  majorities,  and  who  still  acted  as  though 
he  could  not  make  a  mistake,  and  had  the  pluck  to  be 
on  hand  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  prosecuting  the 
case  before  the  assembly,  must  have  had,  in  addition, 


414         A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

a  more  potent  reason  than  the  remonstrances  of  a  few 
friends?  May  not  that  urgent  reason  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  on  board  the  steamboat  on  his  way  from  Cin- 
cinnati to  Pittsburg,  his  overcoat  was  stolen,  while  in  the 
pocket  of  which  were  the  papers  he  intended  to  use  in  the 
presentation  of  his  appeal.  {Gillett,  II.,  p.  465.)  The 
apologists  for  Dr.  Wilson  urge  he  was  sincere;  that,  no 
doubt,  was  true;  but  sincerity  proves  only  itself;  nothing 
more;  a  person  can  be  sincere  in  error,  as  well  as  in 
truth ;  the  crank  can  be  as  sincere  as  the  man  of  the  most 
profound  judgment.  If  Dr.  Wilson  had  had  a  thorough 
collegiate  and  well-read  theological  education  the  pre- 
sumption is,  he  never  would  have  become  the  prosecutor 
of  Dr.  Beecher.  Such  an  education  would  have  broad- 
ened his  theological  views,  and  he  would  have  held  non- 
essentials in  Christian  doctrine  at  their  true  value,  and 
never  permitted  minor  differences  of  opinion  to  usurp  the 
domain  of  Christian  charity. 

Suggestive  Considerations. — There  are  many  consid- 
erations to  be  recognized  before  charges  of  heresy  should 
be  brought  against  a  fellow  minister  of  the  gospel,  and 
thus  disturb  the  peace  of  the  church.  As  long  as  men  are 
differently  constituted  mentally  they  will  have  different 
shades  of  views  on  the  application  of  Christian  truths 
to  the  wants  of  the  human  soul.  In  that  process  there 
can  be  so  many  metaphysical  phases,  and  because  of 
their  idiosyncrasies  men  may  have  on  certain  points 
their  peculiar  views,  yet  on  the  essential  doctrines  of  the 
gospel  they  may  agree  perfectly.  When  they  thus  agree, 
shall  a  minister  who  has  a  theory  about  "Natural  and 
Moral  Ability,"  which  another  has  not,  charge  the  latter 
with  heresy? 

Abstract  Phases  of  Thought. — In  these  two  famous 
ecclesiastical  trials  the  charges  in  both  cases  were  based 
on    abstract    phases   of   thought   or   opinion,    that    did 


THE    TRIAL    OF    DR.    LYMAN     BEECHER.  415 

not  interfere  with  the  respective  holders  thereof,  receiv- 
ing the  gospel  in  its  fulness  and  purity,  nor,  on  their 
line  of  thought  and  interpretation  of  Scripture,  in  direct- 
ing the  sinner  to  the  Saviour. 

Where  are  the  men  of  that  generation  whom  the  Mas- 
ter honored  more  in  His  service;  on  the  one  hand  by 
giving  an  impulse  to  the  study  of  the  Bible,  whose  influ- 
ence still  remains  {see  pp.  406,  244)  ;  and  on  the  other, 
in  inaugurating  a  temperance  movement  that  permeates 
the  Nation;  in  vindicating  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
against  Unitarianism,  and,  finally,  giving  instruction  to 
theological  students,  and  inspiring  them  with  his  own 
vivid  zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer,  than  Albert 
Barnes  and  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher?  The  question  arises  in 
the  mind  of  intelligent  Presbyterians,  why  were  men  of 
such  recognized  mental  abilities,  learning,  and  consecra- 
tion to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  so  blessed  by  the  Master, 
arraigned  for  heresy  in  the  courts  of  the  church? 

There  is,  however,  no  doubt,  although  Dr.  Beecher 
came  out  triumphant  and  labored  successfully  for  years 
as  professor  in  Lane  Seminary,  that  there  lingered  in 
the  minds  of  certain  sincere  Presbyterians  an  indefinable 
suspicion,  which  lessened  his  influence,  simply  because 
of  the  stigma  attached  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been  charged 
with  heresy  before  the  judicatures  of  his  church.  This 
was  an  evil  that  might  and  ought  to  have  been  avoided. 


XLIII. 
Measures  Leading  to  the  Division. 

That  the  reader  may  have  a  connected  narrative  of  the 
measures  that  led  directly  to  the  division  of  the  church, 
we  will  endeavor  to  give  of  them  a  concise  account. 

The  results  of  the  trials  of  Mr.  Barnes  and  Dr.  Beecher 
did  not  allay  the  agitation  that  existed,  especially  in  that 
portion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  which  had  come  only 
indirectly  in  contact  with  the  operations  of  the  plan  of 
union.  We  are  not  aware  that  a  single  church  was  ever  or- 
ganized on  that  plan  in  Western  Pennsylvania;  nor  were 
there  any  such  in  the  eastern  portion  of  that  State,  tak- 
ing Philadelphia  as  a  center,  nor  south  of  that  on  the 
Atlantic  slope;  the  same  may  be  predicated  of  Southern 
Ohio,  having  Cincinnati  as  a  center.  There  were,  how- 
ever, numerous  churches  thus  constituted  in  the  Western 
Reserve  section  of  Northern  Ohio,  and  these  were  in  con- 
nection with  the  presbyteries  and  synods  of  that  portion 
of  the  country.  The  latter  judicatures  bordered  on  those 
of  Western  Pennsylvania;  to  these  churches  must  be 
added  those  formed  on  the  plan  of  union  in  Western 
New  York  State.  In  regard  to  church  polity,  the  ten- 
dency was  more  for  Congregationalists  to  fall  in  with 
that  of  the  Presbyterians,  than  for  the  latter  to  combine 
with  the  former.  Says  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher:  "Three- 
fourths  of  the  churches  formed  under  the  plan  of  union 
become  Presbyterian.  ...  It  was  in  this  way  that 
the  New  School  element  increased  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  wholly,  wholly."     (Autobiography,  II.,  p.  340-) 


MEASURES     LEADING    TO     THE     DIVISION.  4I 7 

The  New  and  the  Old  School. — How  are  we  to  define 
the  New  Schoolism  of  the  time  of  which  we  write? 
Wherein  did  it  differ  from  Old  Schoolism?  We  might 
characterize  the  latter  as  conservative,  and  the  former  as 
liberal;  yet  that  distinction  does  not  give  a  clear  concep- 
tion of  the  difference.  Many  of  those  who  were  termed 
New  School  were  Calvinist  in  doctrine;  were  fervent  in 
spirit  when  preaching  the  gospel,  and  the  Master  blessed 
their  labors.  Some  of  the  most  successful  revivalists  of 
the  period  were  Calvinists,  while  some,  strictly  speaking, 
were  not;  of  the  latter  class  was  reckoned  Charles  S. 
Finney,  and  of  the  former,  Asahel  Nettleton.  They  both 
appeared  to  preach  with  an  earnestness  similar  to  that 
of  Saint  Paul,  the  original  Calvinist.  Thus  an  ardent 
preacher  or  revivalist  was  usually  characterized  as  a  New 
Schoolman,  while  those  who  were  not  so  ardent  were 
deemed  Old  School.  In  the  minds  of  the  church  mem- 
bers only  these  surface  distinctions  were  recognized,  but 
the  theologians  went  farther  back  to  certain  metaphysical 
and  doctrinal  distinctions,  of  which  the  ordinary  lay  mem- 
bers knew  scarcely  anything.  Statistics  show  that  the 
number  brought  into  the  church  from  the  outside  world 
by  the  New  School  preachers  was  much  greater  than  that 
brought  in  by  the  Old  School. 

We  do  not  intend  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the 
theological  questions  of  the  time;  the  study  of  such  is 
more  appropriate  to  the  theological  class-room  than  in  a 
history  designed,  more  especially,  for  the  intelligent  pri- 
vate members  of  the  church.  This  view,  however,  does 
not  militate  against  the  importance  of  every  candidate 
for  the  ministry  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  making  him- 
self familiar  with  all  the  phases  of  thought  that  have 
been  brought  out  in  the  theological  investigations  and 
discussions  of  the  past.  It  is,  also,  essential  that  he  be 
fully  equipped  in  his  scholarship,  to  answer  objections 


4l8  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

that  may  be  presented  in  his  own  day  against  the  Chris- 
tian system,  and  be  able,  likewise,  to  detect  and  refute 
theories  that  in  their  application  would,  virtually,  sap  the 
foundation  of  the  truths  presented  in  the  word  of  God, 
and  to  recognize  the  legitimate  effect  of  opinions  which 
may  influence  the  proper  presentation  of  the  gospel.  This 
scholarship  is  required  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
to-day,  more  than  ever  before,  inasmuch  as  its  private 
members  stand  on  a  correspondingly  higher  plane  of  in- 
telligence in  respect  to  the  doctrines  of  the  church  as 
contained  in  its  standards.  Genuine  theological  scholar- 
ship will  never  put  forth  as  original  opinions  and  theories 
which  have  been  advanced  and  refuted,  perhaps,  again 
and  again  in  the  discussions  of  former  times. 

Conditions  on  Which  Ministers  Were  Received. — The 
internal  affairs  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  were  approach- 
ing a  crisis — that  of  its  division.  The  movement  toward 
which,  though  unintentional,  began  in  1826,  when  the 
Synod  of  Pittsburg  made  known  its  apprehensions  to  the 
General  Assembly  in  relation  to  the  admission  of  or- 
dained ministers  coming  from  other  denominations  into 
the  church,  without  being  required  to  accept  and  assent 
to  its  standards.  In  this  case  nothing  more  was  re- 
quired of  such  ordained  ministers  than  was  of  the 
church's  own  candidates  for  licensure  or  ordination,  and 
therefore  there  ought  to  have  been  no  complaint  on  the 
part  of  outsiders.  Three  years  later  an  attempt  was  made 
to  secure  uniformity  in  the  instruction  given  in  the  semi- 
naries, and  finally  in  1830  the  assembly  made  a  rule,  al- 
ready noted  (/».  396),  which  enjoined  that  licentiates  or 
ordained  ministers,  when  about  to  enter  the  church,  were 
to  be  received  on  their  accepting  the  conditions  on  which 
their  own  licentiates  were  admitted  to  ordination. 

During  these  years  of  ecclesiastical  turmoil  many 
charges  were  made  that  at  this  distance  of  time  seem  tc 


MEASURES     LEADING    TO     THE    DIVISION.  419 

have  been  sometimes  based  on  insufficient  grounds.  The 
American  Home  Missionary  Society  was  charged  with 
having  ambitious  plans — whatever  that  charge  means; — 
that  its  influence  was  subversive  of  the  poHty  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church;  that  its  agents  and  missionaries, 
when  opportunity  served,  as  in  the  General  Assembly, 
nearly  always  voted  to  sustain  the  innovations  of  which 
complaint  was  made.  It  is  not  strange  that  Presbyteri- 
ans, who  thoroughFy  believed  in  the  governmental  polity 
of  their  own  church,  should  deprecate  the  introduction 
within  it  of  the  lax  methods  that  obtained  in  the  Congre- 
gational polity  of  licensing  and  ordaining  ministers,  or 
in  having  "committeemen"  instead  of  ordained  elders. 

The  Memorial  Charges. — A  memorial  presented  to  the 
assembly  of  1834  {p.  jp8)  charged  that  the  latter,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  first  trial  of  Mr.  Barnes  (1831),  had  in 
its  decision  evaded  the  doctrinal  merits  of  the  questions 
at  issue;  that  by  its  compromise  had  "smothered  the 
claims  of  truth;"  and  it  was  also  asserted  that  the 
highest  judicature  of  the  church  by  its  procedure  had 
neutralized  the  principles  of  the  constitution  of  that 
church,  and  had  brought  its  government  "to  spiritual  an- 
archy." The  memorial  also  presented  a  series  of  errors 
said  to  be  contained  in  the  writings  of  several  prominent 
ministers,  whose  names  were  given  and  who  were  desig- 
nated as  New  School  men.  Finally,  in  view  of  the  lax 
manner  in  which  subscription  to  the  standards  of  the 
church  were  made,  these  evils  had  grown  out  of  the  con- 
nection with  the  plan  of  union,  and  the  memorial  asked 
the  assembly  to  annul  its  relations  with  that  system. 

The  assembly  of  1834,  after  due  consideration,  refused 
to  recognize  as  proper  the  censures  of  previous  assem- 
blies, expressed  or  implied  in  the  memorial.  It  thought 
it  inexpedient  to  disturb  its  relations  with  the  plan  of 
union.     It  disapproved  of  publishing  to  the  world  the 


42  O         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

''names  of  ministers  in  good  and  regular  standing  in  the 
church,  as  holding  views  that  were  subversive  of  the 
gospel,  while  the  same  had  not  been  brought  to  trial  in 
,  the  way  provided  by  the  constitution.  Moreover,  the 
L  charges  were  based  on  inferences  drawn  from  isolated 
passages  taken  from  the  publications  of  the  ministers 
named.  The  assembly  also  urged  most  earnestly 
the  presbyteries  and  synods  to  exercise  charity  and 
forbearance,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  settle  among  them- 
selves these  ditficulties  and  not  publish  them  to  the  world 
by  bringing  them  for  adjustment  before  that  body.  This 
reasonable  request  was  evidently  based  on  the  fact, 
geographically  speaking,  that  the  influence  of  the  plan 
of  union  in  organizing  individual  churches  was  within 
quite  a  limited  area,  when  compared  with  the  vast  terri- 
tory wherein  such  influence  was  unknown,  and  over 
which  the  bounds  of  the  church  extended. 

The  Protest  Not  Received. — The  above  decisions  were 
arrived  at  by  the  assembly  after  a  long  and  animated  dis- 
cussion of  the  various  charges  contained  in  the  rnemorial. 
A  protest  against  the  latter's  general  action  was  drawn 
up  and  signed  by  thirty  members  of  the  minority  and  pre- 
sented to  that  body.  This  paper  was  couched  in  such 
terms  the  self-respect  of  the  assembly  demanded  it  should 
not  be  received.  It  censured  that  body  for  refusing  "to 
discharge  a  solemn  duty  enjoined  by  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  and  loudly  and  imperiously  called  for  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  church."  The  refusal  to  entertain  the 
charges  contained  in  the  memorial  greatly  disappointed 
and  even  irritated  those  who  had  presented  them.  The 
minority  were  earnest  in  their  efforts  in  some  way  to 
relieve  the  church  of  the  evils  which,  from  their  stand- 
point, were  impending  over  its  good  order,  both  in  its 
polity  and  in  the  doctrines  contained  in  its  standards. 
The  Act  and  Testimony. — In  order  to  influence  more 


MEASURES     LEADING     TO     THE    DIVISION.  42 1 

effectively  the  next  assembly,  that  of  1835,  the  minority 
afterward  drew  up  a  paper  known  as  "The  Act  and  Tes- 
timony. This  document  was  to  be  signed  during  the  inter- 
vening ecclesiastical  year  by  ministers  and  elders  through- 
out the  church,  and  which,  when  presented,  was  designed 
to  impress  upon  the  assembly  the  views  of  the  signers. 
The  paper  was  also  intended  to  direct  the  attention  of  the 
private  members  of  the  church  to  certain  innovations 
that  had  been  creeping  into  it,  in  respect  to  its  doctrines 
and  governmental  polity.  It  was  charged  that  the  evils 
came  in  through  the  operations  of  the  plan  of  union  and 
the  voluntary  missionary  societies,  and  to  such  an  extent 
that  pure  Presbyterianism  was  in  eminent  danger  of  being 
subverted. 

The  act  and  testimony,  in  its  charges  of  swerving  from 
the  standards  of  the  church,  followed  the  line  of  arraign- 
ment laid  down  in  the  recent  rejected  memorial.  It  was 
even  more  aggressive  than  the  latter  in  its  indictment  of 
previous  assemblies,  especially  the  last  one  (1834).  It 
was  not  altogether  lacking  in  the  accuracy  of  some  of 
its  statements;  for  illustration,  its  charge  was  true  that 
there  were  some  ministers  who  had  avowed  their  ad- 
herence to  the  confession,  but  who,  nevertheless,  held 
doctrines  at  variance  with  those  of  that  confession.  The 
number  of  the  latter  was  small,  indeed,  and  not  of  so 
much  importance  as  to  warrant  the  charge  of  disloyalty 
to  the  church,  brought  against  hundreds  of  godly  min- 
isters, who  could  not  see  the  propriety  of  signing  an 
unauthorised  document,  as  was  the  Act  and  Testimony,^ 
and  thereby  give  their  sanction  to  suspicions  concerning 
many  of  their  brethren,  whom  they  knew  to  be  as  true 
as  steel  to  the  church  in  every  respect.  In  truth,  the 
movement  was  inaugurated  by  irresponsible  persons — 
ecclesiastically  speaking — though  they  were  highly  re- 
spected because  of  their  standing  in  the  church,  and  for 


42  2  A    HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

their  sincere  and  ardent  zeal  in  behalf  of  its  standards. 

Signers  and  Objectors  to  the  Act. — The  assembly  of 
1834  did  not  sanction  the  extreme  measures  which  the 
memorialists  proposed,  and  no  doubt  if  occasion  required, 
would  do  the  same  in  regard  to  the  similar  ones  put  forth 
by  the  signers  of  the  act  and  testimony.  The  latter 
document  urged  the  members  of  the  church  not  to  en- 
courage preachers  and  teachers  who  held  the  heretical 
opinions  that  had  been  pointed  out  in  the  paper,  and  also 
to  subject  such  to  the  discipline  of  the  church  judica- 
tures, and  called  upon  all  ministers  and  individual  elders, 
as  church  sessions,  to  sign  the  act.  The  original  act  was 
signed  by  thirty-seven  ministers  and  twenty-seven  elders. 
The  most  prominent  names  of  ministers  were  Drs.  Robert 
J.  Breckinridge,  James  Latta,  Joshua  L.  Wilson,  Ashbel 
Green,  and  George  Junkin — the  three  last  had  been  or 
were  prosecutors  of  Dr.  Beecher  and  Mr.  Barnes. 

The  action  of  the  authors  of  this  movement  did  not 
meet  cordial  favor  from  all  the  conservatives  of  the 
church.  The  Princeton  Review,  the  recognized  organ  of 
that  class,  condemned  the  measure  most  decidedly,  as 
setting  up  a  new  standard  of  orthodoxy  within  the 
^church.  It  pointed  out  the  "gross  injustice  that  was 
/  done  to  multitudes  of  our  soundest  and  best  men.'* 
It  also  called  in  question  the  facts  that  were  assumed  in 
the  paper;  and  it  deprecated  the  movement  because  it 
led  to  the  division  of  the  church,  and  finally,  that  the 
entire  act  was  "an  unauthorized  assumption,  and  fraught 
with  injustice,  discord,  and  diversion."  Saying  in  addi- 
tion :  "We  have  not  the  least  idea  that  one-tenth  of  the 
ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  would  deliberately 
countenance  and  sustain  the  errors  specified."  This  sen- 
timent was  echoed  in  many  instances  in  different  portions 
of  the  church. 

A  Convention  Called. — The  signers  issued  an  invita- 


MEASURES     LEADING     TO     THE    DIVISION.  423 

tion  for  a  convention  of  those  who  sympathized  with  the 
views  contained  in  the  act  and  testimony,  to  be  held  in 
Pittsburg  just  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  assembly 
in  May,  1835.  The  convention  was  to  take  measures  for 
preserving  the  standards  of  the  church  in  their  original 
purity.  Numbers  of  the  private  members  of  the  church 
and  of  the  eldership  did  not  relish  the  position  about  to  be 
assumed  by  the  convention.  It  seemed  as  if  the  design 
was  to  coerce  the  assembly  by  outside  pressure,  and  more- 
over, they  were  loth  to  believe  that  so  many  men,  who 
had  long  been  held  in  esteem  in  the  church  as  ministers 
and  as  such  blessed  by  the  Master,  were  so  derelict  of 
duty  as  was  implied  in  the  charges  and  innuendoes  of  the 
paper. 

The  Effects  of  the  Agitation. — At  no  previous  time 
was  there  so  much  discussion  within  the  Church  as  from 
the  adjournment  of  the  assembly  of  1834  to  the  meeting 
of  that  of  1835.  The  agitation  penetrated  individual 
churches,  dividing  the  eldership,  and  even  threw  a  shadow 
over  friendships  among  the  private  members  themselves. 
The  religious  papers  engaged  in  all  the  absorbing  con- 
troversy, while  some  of  the  secular  press  took  a  hand 
in  the  fray,  and,  as  usual,  often  showed  a  lack  of  true 
knowledge  of  the  questions  at  issue. 

This  unusual  agitation  alarmed  the  private  church 
members  and  through  its  influence  was  sent  a  majority  of 
Old  Schoolmen  to  the  assembly  of  1835.  The  convention 
summoned  as  we  have  seen,  met  in  Pittsburg  a  few  days 
before  the  meeting  of  the  assembly.  In  it  were  repre- 
sentatives from  forty-one  presbyteries  and  also  from  the 
minorities  of  thirteen  others.  Many  of  the  members  of 
the  convention  were  likewise  commissioners  to  the  as- 
sembly. 

Grievances — Elective  Affinity. — A  list  of  grievances  of 
which  the  convention  complained  was  presented  to  the 


42  4  A     HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Assembly.  This  list  embodied,  for  the  most  part,  though 
in  modified  terms  the  same  complaints  that  had  been  in 
the  memorial.  Though  a  majority  of  the  assembly  sym- 
pathized with  the  convention,  yet  it  was  unwilling  to 
adopt  the  extreme  measures  that  the  original  authors  of 
the  act  and  testimony,  desired.  For  illustration,  it  would 
not  censure  presbyteries  for  receiving  ministers  of  good 
standing  who  came  from  sister  ones  on  their  presenting 
a  certificate  from  the  latter  and  a  letter  of  recommenda- 
tion. It  recognized  the  principle  of  any  judicature  con- 
demning publications  of  a  minister  of  the  same  body, 
which  were  regarded  as  injurious  in  their  tendency, 
though  the  author  may  not  have  been  called  to  an  ac- 
count in  a  legal  way.  It  repudiated  the  principle  of 
elective  affinity  in  constituting  presbyteries  and  synods, 
and  it  made  the  repudiation  practical  by  dissolving  the 
Synod  of  Delaware.  It  deprecated  the  continuance  of 
the  connection  with  the  plan  of  union,  and  gave  its  sanc- 
tion to  the  theories  of  the  act  and  testimony  in  respect 
to  the  doctrinal  errors  that  had  recently  been  creeping 
into  the  church.  It  refused,  however,  to  break  off  the 
usual  fraternal  correspondence  with  the  Congregational 
churches  of  New  England,  nor  did  it  condemn  in  absolute 
terms  the  labors  of  the  Home  Missionary  and  Educa- 
tional societies,  though  in  many  instances  their  operations 
were  within  the  bounds  of  some  of  the  presbyteries,  but 
being  voluntary  organizations  they  were  not  under  the 
control  of  the  assembly. 

Changes  in  Opinion. — Within  a  few  years  an  important 
change  in  opinion  had  been  in  progress  in  the  leading 
minds  of  the  church  in  relation  to  missions  conducted 
on  the  voluntary  plan.  The  trend  of  that  opinion  was  in 
favor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  being  ex-officio  a  mis- 
sionary organization — covering  both  the  foreign  and  do- 
mestic fields.     The  time  was  rapidly  approaching,  if  not 


MEASURES     LEADING     TO     THE     DIVISION.  425 

already  at  hand,  when  the  church  would  be  able,  because 
of  the  increased  number  of  its  private  members,  and  of 
its  wealth  and  general  influence  to  conduct  missions  at 
home  and  abroad  independently  of  sister  denominations. 
That  it  could  and  ought  to  assume  the  responsibility 
of  not  only  bearing  the  expense  of  such  action,  but  also 
of  furnishing  from  its  own  members  the  needed  mis- 
sionaries. The  indications  of  the  impending  change  of 
policy  cropped  out  distinctly  in  certain  resolutions 
adopted  in  the  assembly  of  1835,  which  foreshadowed 
the  movement  of  entering  upon  the  work  as  a  separate 
denomination.  These  expressions  were  as  follows : 
"That  it  is  the  first  and  binding  duty  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  sustain  her  own  boards."  This  was  said  in 
allusion  to  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  and  Do- 
mestic societies.  Again :  "We  have  done  so  little — com- 
paratively nothing — in  our  distinctive,  character  as  a 
Church  of  Christ  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. 
.  .  .  As  a  nucleus  of  foreign  missionary  effort  and 
operation,  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
should  receive  the  countenance  of  those  who  cherish  an 
attachment  to  the  doctrines  and  order  of  the  church  to 
which  we  belong  {Minutes  of  the  Assembly  of  18^^). 
The  members  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  contributing  generously  to  benevolent  and 
voluntary  associations,  some  of  which  were  admirably 
managed,  and  on  whose  boards  were  many  Presbyterians 
as  directors.  No  fault,  to  much  extent,  was  found  with 
these,  except  there  was  some  friction  in  respect  to  the 
mode  of  conducting  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  but 
which,  at  this  distance  of  time,  seems  to  have  been  rather 
the  outgrowth  of  misunderstandings  than  otherwise. 

A  Coniinittee  of  Conference. — In  accordance  with  the 

sentiments  expressed  above,  at  one  of  its  early  sessions 

the  assembly  appointed  a  special  committee  to  confer  with 

a  similar  one  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  in  relation  to  the 

29 


426  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

transfer  of  the  latter's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  to  the 
care  and  supervision  of  the  General  Assembly.  This  com- 
mittee was  directed  to  report  to  the  next  assembly,  that 
of  1836.  It  was,  meanwhile,  to  ascertain  the  terms  on 
which  the  transfer  could  be  made,  and  also  devise  a  plan 
for  conducting  the  proposed  missions  about  to  come 
under  the  direction  of  the  assembly. 

The  majority  of  the  assembly  of  1835  was  strongly 
conservative  or  Old  School.  The  alarming  statements  in 
regard  to  the  number  of  alleged  defections  from  the 
standards  of  the  church  as  represented  by  the  memorial 
'and  afterward  supplemented  by  the  Act  and  Testimony 
had  much  to  do  in  creating  that  majority.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  interesting  to  note  that  within  twenty  days 
after  the  adjournment  of  this  assembly  was  initiated  the 
trial  of  Dr.  Beecher,  and  in  the  following  autumn  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  an  unusual  manner,  suspended 
Albert  Barnes  from  the  ministry.     {See  pp.  jpp,  408.) 

Misleading  Statements. — During  the  following  eccle- 
siastical year  the  private  members  of  the  church  who 
kept  up  with  the  times,  and  great  numbers  of  the  elder- 
ship and  of  the  ministry,  appeared  to  have  had  forced 
upon  them  the  impression  that  the  statements  mentioned 
above,  concerning  the  defections  from  the  confession,  were 
greatly  exaggerated.  These  same  members  began  to  in- 
quire among  themselves  where  are  these  derelicts?  In 
some  localities  of  the  church  none  such  were  found;  in 
others,  there  were  some  ministers  who,  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  conservatives,  were  under  suspicion — but 
justly  or  unjustly  was  a  question.  It  dawned  upon  the 
leading  minds  of  these  church  members  that  the  half 
dozen  prominent  leaders  in  this  movement  might  possibly 
have  gone  too  far  in  their  indiscriminate  charges  against 
the  orthodoxy  of  so  many  efScient  pastors  and  preachers 
in  the  church.     This  view  was  strengthened  by  some  of 


MEASURES    LEADING    TO     THE    DIVISION.  427 

the  religious  newspapers  declaring  that  they  knew  no 
minister  in  their  locality  holding  the  unorthodox  doc- 
trines attributed  to  them  in  the  memorial  and  in  the  act 
and  testimony.  Charity  forbids  impugning  the  motives 
of  these  leaders,  saying  "their  efforts  were  the  outgrowth 
of  honest  but  inflamed  zeal" — but  none  the  less  unjust. 
The  agitation  in  the  church  continued  unabated,  the  re- 
actionary result  of  which  was  the  majority  in  the  as- 
sembly of  1836  was  in  sentiment  the  reverse  of  that  of 

1835. 

Instructions  Transcended. — The  assembly  of  1836  also 
met  in  Pittsburg,  and  in  the  regular  course  of  proceed- 
ings the  committee  appointed  by  that  of  1835  to  consider 
the  transfer  to  the  assembly  of  the  Western  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  reported.  The  committee  in  confer- 
ence had  agreed  upon  terms  of  the  transfer,  and  had  de- 
vised a  plan  and  framed  a  constitution  under  which  the 
proposed  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  should  be  con- 
ducted. The  committee  transcended  its  instructions;  it 
was  only  to  report  progress,  but  it  had,  virtually,  con- 
summated the  transfer.  And  still  further,  in  view  of 
contingencies  that  might  arise,  further  assemblies  were 
by  a  stipulation  in  the  agreement,  in  legal  phrase,  put 
under  bonds  "never  hereafter  to  alienate  or  transfer  to 
any  other  judicature  or  board,  whatever,  the  direct  super- 
vision and  management"  of  the  missions  thus  transferred. 
In  thus  binding  future  assemblies  to  carry  out  the  above 
stipulation  the  committee  again  went  beyond  its  instruc- 
tions. In  addition,  the  transfer  was  made  contrary  to  the 
rule,  as  the  presbyteries  ought  to  have  acted  upon  the 
question  of  accepting  or  rejecting  the  transfer.  In  con- 
sequence the  ratification  of  the  terms  proposed  was  re- 
fused. As  already  noted  (pp.  404,  41^)  this  assembly 
took   action   on   the    cases   of   Albert    Barnes   and    Dr. 


428  A     HISTORY    OK    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Beecher,  and  acquitted  them  both  of  the  charges  brought 
against  them. 

Union  Theological  Seminary. — While  these  ecclesias- 
tical controversies  were  in  progress,  some  of  the  leading 
minds,  ministers  and  laymen  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  New  York  were  discussing  the  problem  of  founding 
a  theological  school  in  that  city.  The  outcome  of  the 
movement  was  that  in  January,  1836,  Union  Theological 
Seminary  went  into  operation.  The  following  statement 
gives  the  reasons  therefor :  "It  is  the  design  of  the  found- 
ers to  provide  a  theological  seminary  in  the  midst  of  the 
greatest  and  most  growing  community  in  America, 
around  which  all  men  of  moderate  views  and  feelings, 
who  desire  to  live  free  from  party  strife,  and  to  stand 
aloof  from  all  extremes  of  doctrinal  speculation,  practical 
radicalism,  and  ecclesiastical  domination,  may  cordially 
and  affectionately  rally." 

In  its  organization  it  was  thoroughly  Presbyterian.  A 
rule  was  adopted  by  which  the  professors  on  entering 
their  office  were  required  to  sign  a  declaration  of  their 
acceptance  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and 
thereafter,  once  in  three  years,  to  renew  their  signatures 
to  the  same;  none  but  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  could  be  members  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 
The  seminary  appealed  for  support  in  the  form  of  endow- 
ments to  the  sympathy  and  patronage  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  in  the  city — and  nobly  has  that  appeal  been  sus- 
tained. Many  reasons  may  be  given  in  favor  of  the  loca- 
tion of  such  an  institution  in  a  large  city;  and  especially 
in  the  American  metropolis;  among  others,  the  facilities 
for  becoming  familiar  with  one  form  of  pastoral  work  in 
the  numerous  Sabbath-schools — church  and  mission. 
These  bear  a  similar  relation  to  a  theological  seminary 
that  a  hospital  does  to  a  medical  college.  In  view  of  this 
line  of  usefulness,  in  1873,  to  the  duties  of  the  Professor 


MEASURES     LEADING    TO    THE    DIVISION.  429 

of  Pastoral  Theology  and  Church  Polity  was  added  that 
of  mission  work.  This  is  the  first  instance,  as  far  as 
known,  in  which  the  last  mentioned  phase  of  ministerial 
preparation  was  introduced  in  "the  regular  curriculum  of 
theological  study  in  this  country."  Again,  in  respect  to 
individual  support,  in  a  large  city,  opportunities  are  often 
afforded  students  for  teaching  by  the  hour  as  private 
tutors  or  in  classical  schools,  and  in  the  form  of  salaries 
for  labor  performed  in  missions,  as  teachers  and  as  vis- 
itors in  families  whose  children  are  pupils  in  such 
schools.  No  small  item  of  advantage  is  afforded  the 
students  for  hearing  different  styles  of  preaching,  and 
also  unusual  facilities  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
great  moral  movements  in  progress  in  the  world. 


XLIV. 

The  Division  of  the  Church. 

The  decision  of  the  General  Assembly  in  the  cases  of 
Mr,  Barnes  and  Dr.  Beecher  removed  for  the  time  theo- 
logical questions  out  of  the  way,  and  now  the  undivided 
attention  of  the  Old  Schoolmen  was  directed  to  remedy  the 
evils  that  in  their  judgment  had  grown  up  within  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  consequence  of  its  connection  with  the 
plan  of  union.  During  the  twenty  years  immediately  pre- 
ceding this  time  the  material  progress  of  the  country  had 
been  remarkable,  but  there  was  now  approaching  a  crisis 
of  unprecedented  financial  disaster.  Meanwhile  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  two  denominations  specially  interested 
— the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian — had  also  been 
equally  great  in  the  increase  of  numbers  and  wealth.  The 
recognition  had  come  to  both,  more  vividly  than  ever, 
of  their  responsibility  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  destitute 
regions  of  their  own  country,  and  abroad  to  the  heathen. 
The  plan  of  union  had  been  in  existence  thirty-six  years, 
and  had  been  a  source  of  blessing  to  both  the  Congre- 
gationalists  and  the  Presbyterians,  but  now  conditions 
had  changed  so  much  that  the  question  arose,  could  not 
each  denomination  working  separately  in  its  own  sphere 
and  mode,  accomplish  more  for  the  cause  of  Christ  than 
in  the  present  system  of  combined  effort?  Then,  again, 
the  turmoil  of  the  last  few  years,  occasioned  by  clashing 
theories  and  discordant  opinions,  had  hindered  the  use- 
fulness of  the  church  as  evidenced  in  the  decrease  of  con- 


THE    DIVISION     OF     THE     CHURCH.  43 1 

versions  from  the  vvrorld,  and  also  forced  upon  many  lead- 
ing minds  the  conviction  that  a  separation  from  the  plan 
of  union  was  essential  to  the  peace  of  both  parties,  and 
it  was  hoped  to  the  promotion  of  the  general  progress  of 
the  gospel  in  the  land. 

Plans  Laid  for  Future  Action. — Just  before  the  final 
adjournment  of  the  assembly  of  1836  the  leaders  of  the 
minority,  or  Old  Schoolmen,  met  in  private  consultation 
and  took  measures  to  secure  a  majority  of  the  next  as- 
sembly (1837)  which  was  to  meet  in  Philadelphia.  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  write  in  confidence  to  those 
ministers  and  elders,  who,  they  had  reason  to  believe, 
were  in  sympathy  with  the  movement  to  abrogate  the 
plan  of  union.  The  persons  addressed  were  urged  to 
exert  their  influence  in  securing  a  majority  of  the  com- 
missioners to  the  next  assembly,  who  would  act  in  union 
with  the  authors  of  the  memorial  and  of  the  act  and 
testimony. 

The  committee  issued  a  circular  which  was  distrib- 
uted far  and  wide  within  the  church.  As  is  usually  the 
case,  an  account  of  this  secret  movement  soon  ap- 
peared in  the  public  prints.  Certain  questions  were 
propounded  in  the  circular,  to  which  confidential  answers 
were  requested.  Charges  were  made  against  the  volun- 
tary societies,  the  Home  Missionary  and  Educational, 
and  by  implication  the  American  Board.  A  decisive  step, 
it  was  intimated,  must  be  taken;  a  pamphlet  was  circu- 
lated which  declared:  "In  some  way  or  other  these  men 
must  separate  from  us  ,  .  .  we  cannot  continue  in 
the  same  body."  Meanwhile  the  New  Schoolmen  were 
not  idle  in  their  undiguised  efforts  to  secure  a  majority  in 
the  same  assembly;  and  the  whole  church  was  sadly  agi- 
tated during  the  intervening  year. 

The  Philadelphia  Convention — Its  Recommendations. 
— A  convention,  similar  in  character  to  the  one  at  Pitts- 


432         A      HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

burg  the  previous  year,  met  in  Philadelphia  a  few  days 
before  the  meeting  of  the  assembly  of  1837.  It  consisted 
of  more  than  one  hundred  members,  nearly  all  of  whom 
were  also  commissioners  to  the  assembly.  Warm  and 
earnest  discussions  took  place  in  the  convention  as  to 
how  they  should  manage  the  affair;  all  was  uncertain 
until  the  assembly  should  be  organized,  since  it  was  a 
mooted  question  which  party  would  have  the  majority. 
In  view  of  this  uncertainty  it  was  asked,  how  should 
they  act  if  in  a  minority?  Should  they  secede  and  consti- 
tute themselves  the  assembly,  or  a  new  assembly?  If 
in  the  majority,  should  they  cite  the  synods,  against 
whom  rumor  made  charges  of  irregularities  to  appear 
at  the  bar  of  the  next  General  Assembly?  That  idea, 
however,  was  soon  dropped  as  too  dilatory;  decisive  ac- 
tion must  be  taken,  and  that  speedily. 

The  convention  resolved  to  present  to  the  assembly 
another  memorial,  which  contained  a  summary  and  reci- 
tation of  the  errors  in  doctrine  said  to  be  prevalent  in 
the  church  and  against  which  the  assembly  was  called 
upon  to  testify  in  the  most  emphatic  terms.  It  stated 
that  church  order  had  been  violated  by  the  principle  of 
"elective  affinity" — but  that  principle  had  been  repudiated 
by  the  assembly  of  1835.  It  was  charged  that  pres- 
byteries had  refused  to  examine  ministerial  appli- 
cants who  came  to  them  with  regular  certificates  of  dis- 
mission from  sister  ones,  thus  violating  the  rule  which 
the  assembly  of  1830  had  adopted.  But  the  Western 
Reserve  Synod,  against  whom  that  rule  was  specially 
directed,  had  stated  in  1833,  that  since  the  rule  had  been 
enacted,  its  presbyteries  had  obeyed  it  {p.  397).  Again 
the  memorial  charged  that  presbyteries  licensed  men  to 
preach  who  had  professed  to  adopt  the  confession  only  for 
"substance  of  doctrine."  One  hundred  and  eight  years 
before  (1729)  the  synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 


THE    DIVISION    OF    THE    CHURCH.  433 

"Guarding  the  Faith,"  required  its  ministers  and  licen- 
tiates to  accept  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Cate- 
chisms, as  being  in  all  essential  and  necessary  articles, 
good  forms  of  sound  words  and  systems  of  Christian 
doctrine  (/>.  114).  The  formula  "substance  of  doctrine" 
was  designed  to  express  the  same  general  idea  in  a  more 
concise   form. 

The  convention  in  its  memorial  condemned  "the  need- 
less ordaining  of  evangelists,"  such  having  caused  "spur- 
ious excitements"  in  the  church,  and  sometimes  brought 
the  office  of  the  pastor  into  contempt.  It  also  condemned 
the  formulation  of  special  creeds  for  individual  churches ; 
this  custom  was  the  outgrowth  of  Congregationalism, 
and  which  was  adopted  in  some  Presbyterian  churches 
organized  on  the  principle  of  the  plan  of  union.  It  cen- 
sured in  harsh  terms  the  decisions  of  former  assemblies ; 
and  deprecated  the  irresponsible  character  of  voluntary 
societies  and  their  influence  upon  certain  presbyteries. 
It  must  be  recognized  that  there  was  reason  for  genuine 
Presbyterians  being  greatly  dissatisfied  with  the  anom- 
alous condition  of  the  order  and  discipline  of  their 
church,  when  in  connection  with  Congregationalism  as 
developed  through  the  influence  of  the  plan  of  union. 
Under  these  conditions  it  was  forced  upon  intelligent  and 
conservative  minds,  even,  of  the  private  members  of  the 
church,  that  it  would  be  better  for  its  spiritual  progress 
to  be  severed  from  a  connection  that  seemed  fraught  with 
so  much  contention. 

The  convention  was  radical  in  its  recommendations. 
It  urged  the  abrogation  of  the  plan  of  union  on  the  plea 
that  it  had  outlived  its  usefulness;  and  also  that  the 
original  arrangement  was  unconstitutional  inasmuch  as 
it  had  not,  according  to  the  rule,  been  submitted  to  the 
presbyteries  for  their  approval ;  and  as  to  the  Associa- 
tion of  Connecticut,  it  had  only  advisory  influence,  but 


434  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

no  legislative  authority  to  make  a  compact  and,  there- 
fore, in  the  abrogation,  that  body  could  be  ignored  {pp. 
2^8-241).  It  recommended  not  to  countenance  nor  aid 
the  operations  of  the  plan  within  the  bounds  of  the  pres- 
byteries, and  to  dissolve  or  exclude  individual  churches 
that  were  thus  organizGd,  though  nominally  connected 
with  a  presbytery. 

'A  Special  Grievance. — It  is  proper  to  note  that  the 
Old  School  were  much  grieved,  especially  at  the  action 
of  the  assembly  of  1836,  in  refusing  to  sanction  the  com- 
mittee's transfer  of  the  Western  Missionary  Society  to 
the  care  and  supervision  of  the  General  Assembly.  This 
action  was  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  voluntary  system 
of  conducting  missions  would  henceforth  be  imposed 
upon  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  thus  deprive  it  of 
being  as  a  collective  body  a  missionary  society.  If  the 
church  was  ex-ofUcio  a  missionary  organization  it  ought 
to  have  a  supreme  judicature  to  which  its  missionaries 
and  the  officers  of  its  societies  were  responsible,  and 
should  report,  in  contradistinction  to  the,  virtually,  irre- 
sponsible voluntary   system. 

The  Assembly  of  1837. — The  General  Assembly  of 
1837  met  on  May  i8th  of  that  year,  in  the  Central  Church 
of  Philadelphia.  The  lines  had  been  drawn  more  defin- 
itely than  ever  before  between  the  parties  in  the  church, 
usually  designated  the  Old  and  the  New  School;  each 
one  on  this  occasion  had  marshaled  for  the  contest  its 
most  talented  and  influential  men.  The  vote  for  moder- 
ator indicated  the  relative  strength  of  each  party;  the 
nominee  of  the  Old  School,  Dr.  David  Elliott,  received 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  votes  and  his  opponent.  Dr. 
Baxter  Dickinson,  one  hundred  and  six;  thus  the  former 
had  an  apparent  working  majority. 

To  the  most  important  committee — that  of  Bills  and 
Overtures — were  referred  a  number  of  overtures  from 


THE    DIVISION     OF    THE    CHURCH.  435 

presbyteries,  and  in  addition,  the  memorial  of  the  conven- 
tion. The  latter  contained  a  list  of  fifteen  errors,  virhich 
w^ere  declared  to  be  more  or  less  prevalent  in  the  church. 
Some  members  of  the  assembly  thought  the  schedule  too 
long;  others  wished  four  more  to  be  added,  while  others 
declared  there  were  errors  mentioned  in  the  list  of  which 
they  never  before  heard.  Numbers  of  the  errors  cited 
were  of  a  class  involving  metaphysical  distinctive  and 
subtile  definitions,  in  which  the  great  majority  of  even 
intelligent  church  members,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
could  take  little  or  no  interest — such  questions  being  ap-  ^ 
propriate  only  for  the  class-room  in  a  theological  semi- 
nary. A  resolution  was,  however,  passed  to  postpone  for 
the  present  the  consideration  of  the  errors  named,  and 
instead  take  up  the  report  on  the  plan  of  union. 

Expression  of  Good  Will — Reasons  for  Action. — A 
preliminary  expression  was  made  by  the  assembly  before 
entering  upon  the  consideration  of  the  plan  of  union, 
urging  that  between  the  original  parties  to  that  arrange- 
ment there  should  continue  mutual  respect  and  sym- 
pathy, saying:  "It  is  expedient  to  continue  the  plan  of 
friendly  intercourse  between  this  church  and  the  Congre-  I 
gational  churches  of  New  England,  as  it  now  exists." 
Then  were  indicated  three  reasons  for  the  future  action 
of  the  Assembly:  First,  that  the  plan  of  union  was 
adopted  specially  to  meet  the  wants  of  new  settlements, 
and  by  implication,  it  was  not  adapted  to  the  changed 
conditions  of  the  present  time;  second,  that  the  act  was 
unconstitutional,  inasmuch  as  the  presbyteries  had  not 
been  consulted  and  their  sanction  given  to  the  measure; 
and  third,  that  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut, 
according  to  its  constitution,  had  no  authority  to  legislate 
on  the  subject.  These  after-thought  objections  were 
adduced  when  the  plan  of  union  had  been  mutually  acted 
upon  for  thirty-six  years. 


436  A    HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

The  report  of  the  committee  in  respect  to  the  plan  of 
union  was  then  taken  up,  and  after  a  protracted  dis- 
cussion the  following  resolution  was  adopted,  that  "the 
Act  of  the  Assembly  of  1801,  entitled,  a  Plan  of  Union, 
be  and  is  hereby  abrogated"  (May  23),  The  vote  stood 
143  to  no.  The  principle  involved  in  this  action,  that 
is,  on  the  ground  of  being  organized  in  connection  with 
the  plan  of  union,  would  cut  off  all  individual  churches, 
and  also  synods  and  presbyteries  thus  constituted. 

Against  this  action  was  presented  an  earnest  protest 
signed  by  one  hundred  and  three  members  of  the  as- 
sembly. The  protest  argued  that  the  repeal  was  a  breach 
of  faitli  with  the  Association  of  Connecticut.  It  was  also 
an  objectionable  feature  in  adopting  the  measure,  that  it 
was  dictated  by  the  convention,  an  outside  party,  unknown 
in  a  legal  sense  to  the  assembly;  and  that  a  majority  of 
the  committee  recommending  the  repeal  had  been  mem- 
bers of  that  convention. 

An  Ominous  Vote — Amicable  Division  Proposed. — 
The  report  on  doctrinal  errors  was  again  in  order,  but 
was  again  postponed.  And  instead,  a  committee,  on 
motion  of  Dr.  Wm.  S.  Plumer,  was  appointed  to  devise 
suitable  plans  by  which  "such  inferior  judicatures  that 
are  charged  by  common  fame  with  irregularities"  could 
be  cited  to  the  bar  of  the  next  assembly.  The  resolution 
elicited  a  warm  discussion,  lasting  through  the  better 
portion  of  two  days,  and  which  revealed  insuperable  ob- 
jections to  the  measure,  though  it  was  finally  adopted  by 
a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty-two  (May  26).  This  vote  was  ominous; 
the  majority  was  so  small  that  another  measure  was  pro- 
posed in  order,  it  would  seem,  to  obviate  the  danger  of 
a  minority  becoming  a  majority,  if  the  measures  proposed 
were  too  radical. 

Dr.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  it  is  said,  in  accordance 


Rev.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 
(422,  436,  439, 502.) 


THE     DIVISION    OF    THE    CHURCH.  437 

with  a  suggestion  of  Dr.  Absalom  Peters,  now  introduced 
a  resolution  to  appoint  a  committee  of  ten — five  from  each 
party — to  devise  a  plan  for  an  amicable  division  of  the 
church.  This  committee,  composed  of  prominent  men 
in  whom  all  had  confidence,  met  several  times  and  dis- 
cussed the  subject  in  hand,  but  were  unable  to  come  to 
a  satisfactory  and  definite  conclusion.  Manifold  diffi- 
culties presented  themselves,  such  as  the  dividing  lines 
that  must  run  through  the  presbyteries  and  the  individual 
churches,  thus  interfering  with  their  private  members, 
causing  alienation  of  Christian  fraternal  feelings,  and 
to  these  were  added  the  financial  interests  involved;  the 
supervision  of  the  theological  seminaries  and  the  care 
of  missions,  domestic  and  foreign.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  committee,  as  it  desired,  was  discharged,  and 
the  whole  matter  was  indefinitely  postponed  (May  30), 
the  vote  being  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  to  one  hun- 
dred and  four.  It  now  became  evident  that  other  methods 
must  be  adopted  to  secure  a  solution  of  the  problem,  since 
a  voluntary  and  mutual  division  of  the  church  seemed  im- 
possible. 

Excision  of  Synods. — On  the  discharge  of  the  above- 
mentioned  committee,  the  time,  in  view  of  the  majority, 
had  come  for  more  decisive  action.  Says  the  Princeton 
Review  (July,  1837)  :  "The  real  object  which  the  ma- 
jority desired  to  attain  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  conten- 
tions which  had  so  long  disturbed  the  church,  and 
to  secure  a  faithful  adherence  to  our  doctrines  and  dis- 
cipline." Immediately  after  the  discharge  of  the  com- 
mittee Dr.  William  S.  Plumer  offered  a  resolution  to  the 
effect  "that  by  the  operation  of  the  abrogation  of  the 
plan  of  union  of  1801  the  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve 
is,  and  is  hereby  declared  to  be  no  longer  a  part  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America." 
It  was  charged  that  many  irregularities  existed  in  the 


438         A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

synod,  and  that  "an  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
churches  within  it  were  not  Presbyterian."  The  latter 
statement  was  denied  by  the  members  of  the  synod  on 
the  floor  of  the  assembly.  It  was  argued  that  the  effect 
of  the  exscinding  act  would  be  "to  dissolve  churches  and 
unclothe  ministers  blessed  of  God;"  and  that  remedies 
more  in  accordance  with  justice  and  prudence  could 
surely  be  devised.  The  reply  was  that  churches  would 
not  be  dissolved  nor  ministers  interfered  with,  and  "if 
there  were  true  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  region,  they 
would  come  out  and  unite  with  the  Presbyterian  Church 
on  the  true  principle,  while  others  would  follow  their 
predilections."  Finally  the  vote  was  taken,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  were  in  the  affirmative  and  one  hun- 
dred and  five  in  the  negative  (June  i). 

The  majority  appeared  to  think  there  was  no  other 
mode  but  "excision"  to  remove  the  troubles  in  which  the 
church  was  involved,  therefore  on  the  same  line  a  resolu- 
tion was  adopted  (June  i)  recommending  "that  the  so- 
called  American  Home  Missionary  Society  and  American 
Education  Society  .  .  .  cease  to  operate  within  any 
of  our  churches.^'  Upon  this  the  vote  stood  one  hundred 
and  twenty-four  to  eighty-six.  Charges  were  made  that 
these  societies  "were  exceedingly  injurious  to  the  peace 
and  purity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  These  charges 
were  unequivocally  denied  by  the  minority. 

Then  followed  the  exscinding  of  the  Synods  of  Utica, 
Geneva,  and  Genesee,  for  the  same  reason  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Western  Reserve  (June  5).  It  was  on  this  occa- 
sion announced  that  "the  assembly  has  no  intention  to 
affect  in  any  way  the  ministerial  standing  of  any  members 
of  either  of  said  synods."  Within  these  three  synods 
were  churches  of  mixed  character,  they  having  been 
organized  on  the  basis  of  the  plan  of  union,  and 
also  others  that  were  strictly  Presbyterian.    To  this  action 


THE    DIVISION    OF    THE    CHURCH.  439 

was  appended  an  invitation  "directing  churches  and  min- 
isters, Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and  order,  to  apply  for  ad- 
mission to  the  presbyteries  most  conveniently  located." 
The  vote  stood  one  hundred  and  fifteen  to  eighty-eight. 

It  was  adduced  as  an  explanation  of  the  action  of  the 
assembly  of  1837  that  the  plan  of  union  was  abrogated 
as  a  compact,  null  and  void,  because  of  its  having  been 
made  in  an  unconstitutional  manner,  and  it  therefore  fol- 
lowed that  all  compacts  made  in  accordance  with  that 
plan  were  also  null  and  void.  In  the  latter  category 
were  classed  individual  churches  thus  organized.  The 
General  Assembly  has  authority  to  organize  synods,  and 
it  has  impliedly  equal  authority  to  dissolve  them.  In  this 
instance,  however,  instead  of  dissolving  these  synods  the 
assembly  left  their  organization  intact,  and  thus  opened 
the  way  by  which  churches  and  ministers,  who  were 
strictly  Presbyterian,  could  remain  or  connect  them- 
selves with  a  presbytery,  and  thus  with  a  synod,  and  by 
such  process  become  separated  from  certain  incompatible 
elements.  The  exscinding  of  these  synods  was  also 
claimed  to  be  £?^/ra-constitutional.  Five  other  synods — 
New  Jersey,  Albany,  Cincinnati,  Illinois,  and  Michigan — 
were  admonished  to  take  order  on  the  doctrinal  errors 
within  their  bounds,  and  to  report  in  writing  to  the  next 
assembly. 

Dealings  with  Presbyteries. — The  majority,  or  Old 
School,  determining  to  make  a  complete  end  of  the  mat- 
ter, took  in  hand  the  presbyteries,  two  of  which,  on  mo- 
tion of  Dr.  Breckinridge,  were  singled  out  to  be 
dissolved — that  of  Wilmington  and  the  Third  of  Phila- 
delphia, but  afterward  the  former  was  permitted  to  re- 
main undisturbed  (June  7).  The  Third  of  Philadelphia 
was  apparently  very  obnoxious,  especially  to  the  leaders 
of  the  convention  of  1837.  Of  this  presbytery  Albert 
Barnes  was  a  member,  and  it  had  been  organized  on  the 


\ 


440  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

elective  affinity  principle.  It  may  be  interesting  to  note 
in  this  connection  that  within  the  last  four  years  in  the 
Presbyterian  churches  in  the  rest  of  Philadelphia  "there 
had  been  a  marked  decrease"  of  conversions  from  the 
world,  and  meantime  "the  Third  Presbytery  had  gained 
nearly  one  thousand  members."  As  in  the  case  of  the 
exscinded  synods,  the  ministers  and  churches  of  the  dis- 
solved "Third  of  Philadelphia"  were  directed  to  apply  for 
admission  to  other  presbyteries. 

Board  of  Missions — Th^  Protests. — The  assembly, 
having  as  far  as  possible  devisecj  measures  to  prevent  in 
the  future  a  recurrence  of  the  evils  of  which  complaint 
had  been  made  within  recent  years,  proceeded  to  enter 
upon  a  course  of  policy  peculiarly  its  own,  in  conducting 
missions  and  other  forms  of  Christian  work.  It  adopted 
the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  on  that 
basis  established  a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  (June  8). 
The  Princeton  Review,  in  referring  to  these  proceedings 
of  the  assembly,  says  the  question  is  "whether  this  di- 
vision has  been  effected  in  the  way  which  will  com- 
mend itself  to  the  approbation  of  good  men?  We  think 
not."  In  respect  to  these  enacted  measures  the  members 
of  the  minority  were  by  no  means  silent,  but  ably  opposed 
them  in  debate  and  then  by  earnest  protests.  The  latter 
were  graphic  in  their  arraignment  of  such  legislation. 
They  showed  how  contrary  to  right,  to  rule,  and  to  prece- 
dent, members  of  the  church  and  its  ministers  in  good 
and  regular  standing,  and  who  from  their  childhood  and 
earliest  Christian  life  had  been  consistent  Christians,  and 
of  their  substance  had  contributed  liberally  to  the  funds 
of  the  church,  were  excluded  from  that  church  without 
trial,  and  their  pastors,  without  the  impeachment  of  their 
doctrinal  views.  The  inquiry  was  natural,  could  not  this 
end  have  been  attained  in  a  manner  less  harsh?  Could 
not  a  specified  time  have  been  named — say  three  years. 


THE    DIVISION    OF    THE    CHURCH.  44I 

as  was  proposed — in  which  the  members  of  those 
churches  known  as  mixed  could  have  separated  in  a 
friendly  and  Christian  manner,  and  thus  become  strictly 
Presbyterian  or  Congregational? 

Errors  Acted  Upon. — The  consideration  of  the  "errors 
in  doctrine,"  as  enumerated  in  the  list  of  the  convention, 
having  been  postponed  from  time  to  time,  was  now  acted  \ 
upon.  In  the  vote  taken  the  errors,  one  and  all,  were 
emphatically  condemned,  and  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote  of  the  majority  and  the  minority.  It  was  said  that 
if  one  or  two  of  the  statements  had  been  somewhat  modi- 
fied the  vote  would  have  been  unanimous.  This  vote  was 
very  significant  and  worthy  of  the  reader's  notice.  It  > 
showed,  conclusively,  that  the  charges  which  had  been 
so  persistently  proclaimed  for  the  previous  six  years,  to 
the  effect  that  "doctrinal  errors"  were  prevalent  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  were  grossly  exaggerated,  having 
comparatively  little  foundation.  There  was,  however,  no 
doubt  that  a  very  limited  number  of  ministers  were  in  the  j 
church  who  held  doctrinal  views  which  were  not  strictlyj 
in  accordance  with  its  standards.  The  Princeton  Re- 
view declared  "there  zvere  not  one  in  ten"  of  the  Presby- 
terian ministers  who  held  the  doctrinal  errors  thus 
charged. 

The  Connecticut  Missionary  Society. — The  assembly 
of  1837,  deeming  it  essential  for  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  church,  abrogated  the  plan  of  union  and  exscinded 
four  synods.  How  pleasant  it  would  be  if  we  could  find 
in  its  minutes  a  recognition  of  what  the  Connecticut  Mis- 
sionary Society  did,  indirectly,  for  the  advancement  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  year  1797  the  General  As- 
sociation of  Connecticut  formed  itself — ex-ofEcio — into  a 
missionary  Society.  Among  its  first  gifts  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church  was  Eliphalet  Nott,  first  as  pastor  of  a 
Presbyterian  church  in  Albany  and  afterward  for  fifty 
30 


442  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

years  President  of  Union  College,  wherein  his  influence 
was  a  continuous  blessing  to  the  church  of  his  adoption. 
Numbers  of  that  society's  licentiates,  and  who  were  sup- 
ported by  it,  labored  in  Western  New  York,  and  mostly 
in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  while  in 
the  course  of  twenty-five  years  it  sent  to  and  sustained 
numerous  missionaries  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  who 
with  scarcely  an  exception,  heartily  cooperated  with  the 
assembly's  board.  It  sent  that  self-denying  and  inde- 
fatigable missionary,  Joseph  Badger,  to  the  Western  Re- 
serve, but  who  died  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Erie 
{pp.  2^^,  2C)y).  Elias  Cornelius  was  one  of  its  mission- 
aries, and  who  organized  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
New  Orleans,  and  in  the  same  service  it  supported  the 
eloquent  Sylvester  Larned — a  graduate  of  Princeton 
Seminary  {p.  339).  That  society  commissioned  Salmon 
Giddings,  the  apostle  to  Missouri,  and  who  or- 
ganized the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  St.  Louis,  and 
also  Timothy  Flint  {p.  372)  who  labored  in  the 
same  State,  and  they  together  founded  several  such 
churches.  This  society  sent  may  others,  among  whom 
was  Samuel  Royce  {p.  28'/),  the  first  educated  Protestant 
minister  to  preach  west  of  the  lower  Mississippi.  He 
connected  himself  with  the  presbytery  of  that  name,  and 
spent  his  life  at  Alexandria,  Louisiana,  and  for  a  long 
time  had  scarcely  a  ministerial  brother  within  a  hundred 
miles;  the  region  round  about  was  his  parish.  When  it 
was  unable  to  send  men  it  appropriated  money  to  support 
other  missionaries  in  the  Great  valley;  of  these  there 
were  more  than  twenty,  all  connected  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church. 

Sad  Statistics. — In  connection  with  these  continuous 
controversies  within  the  church  it  will  not  be  out  of 
place  to  refer  to  statistics  as  to  the  number  of  its  com- 
municants. In  the  report  of  1833  the  number  of  church 


THE     DIVISION     OF    THE    CHURCH.  443 

members  was  233,580,  while  in  1830  it  was  about  173,000, 
and  in  1837,  220,557.  From  1830  to  1833  the  average  an- 
nual increase  from  the  world  was  about  20,000,  and  from 
1833  to  1837,  the  annual  average  decrease  was  3256.  This 
decrease  was  largely  in  the  Northern  presbyteries,  which 
fact  may  be  partially  accounted  for  because  an  unusual 
number  of  the  churches  in  that  region  had  been  organized 
in  accordance  with  the  plan  of  union,  and  the  agitation 
that  was  going  on  affected  them  more  than  the  churches 
elsewhere;  and  in  consequence  great  numbers  of  these 
mixed  churches  withdrew  from  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  main  cause  of  this  decrease,  however,  was  that  the 
proper  work  of  the  church  was  interfered  with  and  re- 
ligion languished;  it  was  not,  as  in  previous  years,  when 
the  church  was  united  and  pressing  on  in  its  appropriate 
duties.  There  were  also  during  this  period  disturbing 
elements  in  the  commercial  and  industrial  world,  which 
finally  resulted  in  the  terrible  financial  crash  of  1837,  that- 
affected  the  whole  Nation. 

Difficulties  Attending  Assemblies. — During  these 
years  of  controversy  there  existed  much  dissatisfaction 
among  the  Old  School  Presbyterians  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies  in  the  Great  valley  because  of  the  many  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  their  commissioners  attending  the  meetings 
of  the  assembly  when  held  so  far  East  as  Philadelphia. 
This  grievance  was  first  put  forth  by  the  Synod  of  Pitts- 
burg in  183 1 ;  the  circumstances  being  such  there  was  quite 
a  reason  for  the  complaint.  At  that  time  there  were  no 
railroads,  as  now,  but  instead  only  two  stage  routes  across 
the  Alleghanies;  one,  the  famous  national  road,  from 
Cumberland,  Maryland,  to  the  Ohio  and  beyond,  and  the 
other  up  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Juniata  rivers,  and 
thence  across.  The  modes  of  travel  were  by  private 
carriage,  on  horseback  or  by  canal  and  stage-coach  com- 
bined, and  in  the  Great  valley  on  the  rivers  by  steam- 


444  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

boats.  The  time  spent  at  the  assembly  and  on  the  jour- 
neys to  and  from,  and  the  expenses,  often  deterred,  espe- 
cially, the  elders  commissioned  by  the  Western  presby- 
teries from  attending.  The  same  could  be  said  of  the 
lay  commissioners  from  the  presbyteries  of  the  At- 
lantic slope,  south  of  the  Potomac,  and  of  the  South- 
west. The  church  of  that  day  was  ill  able  to  systematic- 
ally defray  the  expenses  of  its  commissioners  to  the  as- 
sembly. It  was  complained  that  owing  to  these  conditions 
the  churches  in  the  West  were  not  as  fully  represented  in 
the  assembly,  as  those  east  of  the  mountains ;  that  some 
thirty  or  forty  commissioners  came  every  year  from  the 
portion  of  the  church  wherein  the  system  of  voluntary 
societies  was  specially  popular,  while  the  western  portion 
was  only  a  little  more  than  half  represented.  For  illustra- 
tion, an  investigation  revealed  the  fact  that  in  the  year 
1828  the  portion  of  the  church  east  of  the  AUeghanies 
and  north  of  the  southern  line  of  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia, having  forty  presbyteries,  sent  to  the  assembly 
thirty-four  elders,  and  the  other  portion,  having  fifty 
presbyteries,  sent  only  four.  Again,  in  1831,  the  former 
portion,  having  forty-four  presbyteries,  sent  fifty-one 
elders,  and  the  latter,  having  sixty,  sent  fifteen.  It  ap- 
pears from  the  minutes  of  the  assembly  that  a  similar 
ratio  prevailed  in  previous  years. 

The  Action  on  Slavery. — For  a  number  of  years  pre- 
vious to  1837  the  subject  of  slavery  had  been  agitated 
in  the  South,  the  tendency  of  which  was  to  secure  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  its  victims.  Societies  having 
this  end  in  view  were  first  formed  amid  the  evil.  "In 
1826,"  says  an  authority,  "of  the  one  hundred  and  one 
anti-slavery  societies  in  the  country,  less  than  one-fourth 
were  in  the  free-labor  States."  North  Carolina  had  forty- 
one  of  these,  Tennessee  had  twenty-three,  Virginia  had 
many,  and  Kentucky  six.    In  the  latter  State  the  Presby- 


THE    DIVISION    OF    THE    CHURCH.  445 

terian  Church  took  a  more  active  part  than  it  did  in  any 
of  the  others.  The  synod  of  that  State,  in  considering 
overtures  on  the  subject,  declared  the  system  to  be  a  moral 
evil,  and  contrary  to  the  word  of  God.  It  went  so  far  in 
1834  that  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote  it  appointed  a 
committee  ''to  prepare  a  plan  for  the  instruction  and 
future  emancipation  of  the  slaves."  It  reported  the  next 
year,  and  depicted  the  domestic  evils  of  the  system  in 
a  graphic  manner  and  took  decided  ground  in  favor  of 
emancipation.  The  synod  accepted  the  report,  but  did 
not  adopt  it,  deeming  the  sentiment  of  the  people  at 
large  not  fully  prepared  for  so  radical  a  measure.  A 
change,  meanwhile,  was  taking  place  in  the  minds  of  the 
Southern  people,  and  which  was  occasioned  by  the  agita- 
tion on  the  subject  then  going  on  in  the  North,  that  mani- 
fested itself  by  sending  South  through  the  mail  publi- 
cations that  were  deemed  incendiary.  It  was  charged 
that  such  papers  often  came  in  packages  of  goods  in  order 
that  they  might  more  certainly  reach  the  eyes  of  the  slaves 
themselves.  The  reaction  became  excessive,  and  led  to 
enactments  by  some  of  the  States  of  very  stringent  laws 
in  respect  to  the  slaves;  even  their  religious  meetings 
were  forbidden  and  their  Sabbath-schools  discontinued. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  free-labor  States  had 
nothing  to  do  with  sending  these  objectionable  publi- 
cations. The  subject  had  been  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  assembly  of  1836  in  the  form  of  a  report  of  a 
committee  appointed  the  previous  year.  The  matter  was 
discussed  at  length,  but  finally,  on  the  ground  that  the 
assembly  "had  no  authority  to  assume  or  exercise  juris- 
diction in  regard  to  the  existence  of  slavery."  The  whole 
subject  was  postponed  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  to  eighty-seven.  A  protest  was  presented  that  was 
signed  by  twenty-eight  members. 

The  Presbyterians  in  the  South  began  to  attribute  what 


446         A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

there  was  of  anti-slavery  sentiment  among  their  Northern 
brethren  to  only  the  portion  of  the  church  that  was  de- 
nominated the  New  School.  In  this  opinion  or  assump- 
tion they  were  clearly  mistaken,  for  the  great  majority 
of  the  ministry  and  of  the  private  members  of  the  church 
who  intelligently  kept  up  with  the  times  did  recognize 
the  evils  of  slavery,  but  they  were  unable  to  see  how  they 
could  be  remedied.  In  accordance  with  their  views,  it 
was  not  strange  that  Southern  presbyteries  saw  in  a  di- 
vision of  the  church  the  only  means  of  freeing  it  from  the 
anti-slavery  agitation.  Several  of  their  presbyteries  and 
of  their  synods,  two  or  three,  expressed  themselves  in 
favor  of  a  division,  and  with  this  sentiment  coincided 
some  of  their  religious  papers. 

In  1837  the  number  of  ministers  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  was  2140;  churches,  2865;  communicants,  220,- 
557;  funds  for  missions,  $163,363;  for  education,  $90,- 
833;  theological  seminaries,  $20,431. 

TJie  Pastoral  and  Circular. — The  assembly  of  1837,  as 
usual,  issued  a  pastoral  letter  to  the  churches.  The  plan 
of  union  was  spoken  of  as  having  been  "projected  and 
brought  into  operation  by  some  of  the  wisest  and  best 
men  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  ever  known."  Then 
follow  some  of  the  objections  to  its  practical  workings, 
because  the  original  conditions  were  so  much  changed. 
"By  that  act  committeemen  belonging  to  the  Congrega- 
tional Church,  and  under  its  government,  were  intro- 
duced into  our  presbyteries,  our  synods,  and  General 'As- 
sembly. .  .  .  The  act  in  question  goes  to  the 
subversion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  The  pastoral 
concludes:  "That  on  whatever  side  the  principal  fault  of 
our  present  disturbances  may  be  the  whole  church  has 
abundant  cause  of  deep  humiliation  and  repentance  be- 
fore Almighty  God"  (June  8). 

The  Assembly  also  issued  a  special  circular  letter  ad- 


THE    DIVISION    OF    THE    CHURCH,  447 

dressed  to  the  churches,  the  design  of  which  was  to  pre- 
sent to  them  an  explanation  or  vindication  of  the  various 
acts  of  the  assembly.  The  spirit  of  the  circular  was  in 
marked  contrast  with  that  so  clearly  manifested  in  the 
pastoral  letter.  The  subject  of  slavery,  which  came  up 
at  the  assembly,  was  laid  upon  the  table  by  a  vote 
of  ninety-three  to  twenty-eight.  (Minutes  of  the  As- 
sembly of  18 S7.) 


XLV. 
The  Two  Assemblies. 

The  members  of  the  assembly  of  1837,  who  represented 
the  presbyteries  and  churches  within  the  four  exscinded 
synods,  before  leaving  for  their  homes,  held  a  council. 
After  consultation  it  was  understood  that  the  subject  of 
their  complaint  would  be  fully  considered  at  a  convention 
soon  to  be  called  and  to  which  delegates  were  to  be  sent 
by  the  aggrieved  churches.  These  four  synods  had  under 
their  care  nearly  thirty  presbyteries,  while  the  number  of 
their  church  members  was  about  equal  that  of  the  whole 
church  at  the  beginning  of  the  century. 

Complaint  and  Acts  of  the  Convention. — The  conven- 
tion, accordingly,  was  called  and  met  in  Auburn,  New 
York,  on  August  17,  1837.  The  number  of  delegates  in 
attendance,  ministers  and  lay,  was  about  one  hundred 
and  seventy.  Many  of  its  members  were  prominent  in 
the  church  as  preachers  and  theological  professors,  such 
as  Drs.  James  Richards,  N.  S.  S.  Beman,  Lyman  Beecher, 
Thomas  McAuley,  Samuel  Hanson  Cox,  and  many  others. 
The  members  of  the  convention  deemed  themselves  the 
victims  of  a  gross  injustice,  inasmuch  as  they  had  been 
cut  off,  or  virtually  expelled,  from  the  church  of  their 
fathers,  not  for  reasons  concerning  doctrinal  errors  affect- 
ing their  Christian  character  as  ministers  of  the  gospel 
or  lay  officers,  but  on  grounds  that  were  unconstitutional. 
The  convention  recommended  the  synods  and  their  pres- 
byteries to  preserve  their  organizations  intact,  and  send  to 
the  next  assembly  their  usual  number  of  commissioners. 


THE     TWO     ASSEMBLIES.  449 

The  recommendation  was  complied  with  for  the  most 
part,  as  only  a  few  churches  severed  their  connection  with 
their  presbyteries.  There  was  a  tacit  understanding  to 
test  the  case  on  the  floor  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1838. 
In  order  to  place  the  motives  and  the  reasons  for  its 
action  before  the  churches,  the  convention  appointed  a 
number  of  committees  to  prepare  papers  for  publication 
and  distribution  throughout  the  church :  first,  to  give  rea- 
sons for  the  action  of  the  convention;  second,  to  define 
the  rights  of  membership  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
how  they  are  guaranteed  or  forfeited ;  third,  to  direct  the 
attention  of  judicatures  and  ministers  to  its  present  la- 
mentable condition ;  fourth,  to  prepare  a  summary  of  doc- 
trines as  held  and  maintained  by  the  portion  of  the  church 
thus  exscinded,  as  charges  of  defections  in  doctrines  had 
been  presented  in  memorials  to  former  assemblies,  and 
also  a  committee  of  correspondence,  in  order  to  confer 
as  to  the  best  method  of  securing  the  objects  aimed  at  by 
the  convention. 

The  Assembly  of  i8j8. — The  General  Assembly  of 
1838  met  on  the  17th  day  of  May  of  that  year  in  the 
Seventh  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia.  A  num- 
ber of  questions  had  to  be  discussed  and,  if  possible,  set- 
tled before  the  regular  organization  could  be  completed. 
There  were  on  hand  commissioners  from  the  exscinded 
synods,  who  deemed  the  excision  acts  unconstitutional, 
and  therefore  null  and  void,  and  they  were  present  to 
claim  their  seats.  The  question  was  still  an  open  one, 
since  no  competent  authority  had  decided  as  to  the  legality 
of  the  exscinded  acts,  while  as  to  the  different  opinions  of 
the  parties  interested  they  were  equally  without  authority. 
Another  important  question  arose,  how  was  the  roll  of 
the  assembly  of  1838  to  be  completed? 

The  ordinary  exercises  in  opening  a  new  assembly 
were  conducted  in  the  usual  manner.     At  the  close  of 


45  O  A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

these  preliminaries  the  moderator,  Dr.  Elliott,  called 
upon  the  permanent  clerk  to  report  the  roll.  At  this 
time  Dr.  William  Patton  of  the  Third  Presbytery 
of  New  York  rose  and  asked  permission  to  offer 
a  resolution,  but  the  moderator  declared  him  out 
of  order  until  the  roll  was  completed.  Dr.  Patton  ap- 
pealed from  the  decision,  but  it  was  not  sustained.  The 
permanent  clerk,  in  preparing  the  roll,  had  left  off  the 
names  of  the  commissioners  from  the  four  exscinded  syn- 
ods, and  this  roll  he  reported.  At  the  close  of  its  read- 
ing the  moderator,  according  to  rule,  asked  if  there  were 
commissioners  from  presbyteries  belonging  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  whose 
names  were  omitted  from  the  roll ;  if  so,  it  was  in  order 
to  present  their  commissions.  Upon  this  announcement 
Dr.  Erskine  Mason  of  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York 
moved  that  the  names  of  certain  commissioners  whose 
commissions  the  clerk  had  refused  to  receive,  be  added 
to  the  roll.  The  moderator  inquired  to  what  presbyteries 
they  belonged ;  the  answer  was,  to  the  synods  of  the  West- 
em  Reserve,  Utica,  Geneva,  and  Genesee.  The  moderator 
stated  that  the  motion  was  out  of  order.  Dr.  Mason,  in 
a  courteous  manner,  appealed  from  the  moderator's  de- 
cision, but  the  latter  refused  to  put  the  appeal  to  the  house, 
and  immediately  asked  for  the  names  of  commissioners 
from  presbyteries  in  connection  with  the  assembly. 

The  Crisis  Had  Come.—Tht  Rev.  Miles  P.  Squier — 
the  only  one  from  an  exscinded  synod  to  take  part — rose 
and  stated  that  he  had  a  commission  to  the  assembly  from 
the  Presbytery  of  Geneva,  which  the  clerk  had  re- 
fused to  receive,  and  he  now  presented  the  same  to  the 
assembly,  and  claimed  by  right  his  seat.  The  moderator 
inquired  if  his  presbytery  belonged  to  the  Synod  of 
Geneva ;  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  the  moderator 
declared  the  application  out  of  order,  curtly  saying :  "We 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES.  45 1 

do  not  know  you,  sir."  Dr.  John  P.  Cleaveland  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Detroit,  rose  and  amid  interruptions  began 
to  read  a  paper,  the  purport  of  which  was  that  as  the 
moderator  had  failed  to  do  his  duty  in  putting  the  a|>- 
peal,  it  was  therefore  incumbent  that  the  assembly  be  at 
once  organized,  and  he  moved  that  Dr.  N.  S.  S.  Beman — 
a  moderator  of  a  previous  assembly — take  the  chair 
until  a  moderator  be  chosen.  The  motion  was  carried, 
and  Dr  Beman  took  a  position  in  an  aisle  of  the  church. 
Clerks  were  immediately  chosen — Dr.  Erskine  Mason  and 
Dr.  E.  W.  Gilbert.  Then  some  one  nominated  Dr. 
Samuel  Fisher  of  Newark  Presbytery  for  moderator; 
he  was  chosen.  These  various  motions  were  passed,  there 
being  very  few  negative  votes.  The  other  portion  of  the 
house  sat  quietly,  taking  no  part.  A  motion  was  made 
and  passed  that  the  assembly,  as  thus  organized,  adjourn 
to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  which  was  accomplished 
in  order.  The  division  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was 
now  complete.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  if  the  commis- 
sioners from  the  four  exscinded  synods  be  added  to  those 
who  retired,  a  careful  estimate  makes  the  number  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six,  while  those  who  remained  in  the 
Seventh  Church  number  one  hundred  and  forty.  Here 
was  an  anomaly  in  church  history — two  denominations 
having  the  same  name,  adhering  faithfully  to  the  same 
standards  of  doctrine,  and  occupying  side  by  side  the  same 
territory.  Thus  they  continued  for  thirty-two  years,  and 
then  reunited  on  the  acceptance  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
church  as  contained  in  the  Confession  of  Faith. 

In  order  to  avoid  confusion  we  will  designate  the  as- 
semblies as  Old  and  New  School — these  terms  being,  at 
the  time,  well  understood — instead  of  by  the  church  in 
which  they  happened  to  meet. 

The  Old-School  Assembly  Organizes. — After  a  portion 
of  the  members  had  adjourned,  as  noted  above,  to  meet 


452  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

elsewhere,  those  who  remained  proceeded  to  organize  the 
assembly  as  if  nothing  unusual  had  occurred.  In  the 
minutes  the  withdrawal  is  briefly  stated,  without  com- 
ment. Dr.  William  S.  Plumer  was  elected  moderator, 
and  the  Old-School  Assembly  entered  upon  routine  busi- 
ness, such  as  the  appointments  of  the  usual  committees, 
the  election  of  trustees  and  of  directors  in  the  Seminary 
Board.  In  these  were  now  an  unusual  number  of  vacan- 
cies owing  to  the  withdrawal  of  so  many  members.  Num- 
bers of  overtures  were  referred  to  appropriate  committees 
and  were  considered  in  order;  action  was  also  taken  on 
the  missions  of  the  church,  foreign  and  domestic, 

A  resolution  was  passed  to  the  effect  "that  the  names 
of  those  who  had  left  the  assembly  and  were  in  attendance 
on  an  assembly  in  the  First  Church  be  transmitted  to  their 
respective  presbyteries."  Another  measure  was  passed, 
saying:  "In  the  present  condition  it  is  inexpedient  to  re- 
peal the  resolution  which  makes  it  imperative  on  presby- 
teries to  examine  ministers  applying  for  admission." 

The  Question  of  Slavery. — The  leading  minds  in  the 
Old  School  tacitly  decided  in  relation  to  the  question  of 
slavery  "to  let  the  Southern  brethren  manage  their  own 
concerns  in  their  own  way."  And  accordingly,  when  that 
question  was  brought  before  the  assembly,  it  was  laid 
upon  the  table.  Both  branches  of  the  church,  in  their  re- 
spective assemblies,  had  this  question  presented  for  their 
consideration  from  year  to  year,  and  they  both  condemned 
the  system  as  wrong,  yet  from  the  nature  of  the  case  they 
were  unable  to  do  anything  more  efficient  than  to  proclaim 
its  condemnation.  That  form  of  agitation  continued  for 
twenty-three  years,  till  the  firing  on  Sumter  occasioned 
a  more  efifective  mode  of  argument.  We  will  not,  there- 
fore, impose  upon  the  patience  of  the  reader  the  monoto- 
nous details  of  these  annual  discussions  and  resolutions. 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES.  453 

which  were  unsatisfactory  to  both  assemblies,  and  are 
now  of  much  less  interest. 

The  assembly  had  already  accepted  the  Western  For- 
eign Missionary  Society  from  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  and 
on  the  basis  of  which  had  constituted  its  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions.  This  transferred  society  was  free  from  debt 
and  had  an  increasing  income  from  year  to  year,  that  was 
"larger  than. was  then  given  to  foreign  missions  by  all 
the  other  churches  of  the  denomination." 

The  Nezu-School  Assembly  Organises. — The  New 
School  Assembly  of  1838  entered  upon  routine  business 
in  the  usual  mode.  As  a  mere  form,  but  for  a  legal  pur- 
pose, the  moderator  called  for  the  reports  of  the  usual 
committees  appointed  by  the  assembly  of  1837,  and  di- 
rectors were  elected  for  the  Seminary  at  Princeton.  The 
assembly  repealed  certain  measures  of  the  previous  one, 
such  as  the  latter's  resolution  in  respect  to  the  Home 
Missionary  and  Educational  societies,  and  it  went  further 
in  commending  them  to  the  good  will  and  patronage  of 
the  church.  It  was  emphatic  in  declaring  the  act  of  ex- 
scinding the  four  synods  as  contrary  to  the  constitution  of 
the  church,  and  therefore  null  and  void.  It  made  no 
new  arrangements  of  presbyteries  or  synods,  except  in 
one  instance,  when  it  constituted  a  new  synod,  known  as 
that  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was  to  embrace  the  ministers 
and  congregations  of  the  presbyteries  of  Philadelphia 
Second,  Philadelphia  Third,  Lewes,  Wilmington,  Carlisle, 
Huntingdon,  and  Northumberland.  It  also  appointed  a 
committee  of  twelve  to  supervise  its  legal  rights  and  its 
pecuniary  interests,  as  such  questions  might  arise  in  the 
future. 

Effort  to  Effect  a  Compromise. — It  passed  unanimously 
the  following  resolution :  "That  this  body  is  willing  to 
agree  to  any  reasonable  measures  tending  to  an  amicable 
adjustment  of  the  difficulties  existing  in  the  Presbyterian 


454         A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

Church,  and  will  receive  and  respectfully  consider  any 
propositions  which  may  be  made  for  that  purpose."  In 
accordance  with  the  sentiment  thus  expressed  proposi- 
tions were  made  to  the  Old-School  Assembly  indicating 
a  desire  for  a  compromise  or  reunion,  but  an  answer  was 
received  which  implied  that  the  latter  still  adhered  to  its 
exscinding  acts.  In  view  of  this  answer  there  was  only  one 
alternative,  to  test  in  the  civil  courts  which  one  of  the 
assemblies  was  the  legitimate  chief  judicature  of  the 
whole  Presbyterian  Church.  Though  not  stated,  it  was  a 
fact  that  the  private  members  of  the  churches  cut  off  by  the 
exscinding  acts  had  previously  been  in  proportion  as  lib- 
eral in  their  contributions  in  aid  of  the  colleges  and  semi- 
naries of  the  church  as  those  who  were  not  thus  excluded. 
This  consideration  involved  the  rights  of  property,  also, 
and  the  first  question  to  be  decided  was  which  one  of  these 
assemblies — the  New  or  the  Old  School — was  the  legiti- 
mate successor  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  church 
before  the  division.  The  New  School  elected  members 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Assembly  under  the 
charter  of  1789.  The  method  adopted  to  reach  the  case 
was  to  test  the  right  of  these  newly  elected  members  to 
a  seat  in  the  board.  The  New-School  Assembly  was  the 
plaintiff  and  the  Old  School  the  defendant. 

The  Two  Civil  Court  Trials. — The  suit  was  brought 
— March  4,  1839 — in  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania,  and  before  a  special  jury  and  a 
single  judge — Rodgers — and  after  a  trial  lasting  three 
weeks,  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff,  on  the  ground 
that  the  exscinding  acts  which  deprived  the  latter  of  their 
rights  were  "unconstitutional."  This  decision  made  the 
New  School  "The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

The  defendant  now  appealed  to  the  Court  in  Bank,  in 
which  all  the  judges  participate.     In  that  trial  the  ques- 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES.  455 

tion  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  decision  of  the  previous 
court  was  ignored,  and  a  different  issue  introduced, 
which  had  respect  to  whether  the  majority  of  the  as- 
sembly of  1838  was  in  accord  with  the  Old  School.  On 
this  issue  the  Court  in  Bank  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter. 
It  is  a  singular  fact  that  in  view  of  the  premises  in  each 
case,  both  these  decisions  were  correct.  The  New  School 
were  satisfied  with  the  decision  of  the  first  court  and 
jury,  namely,  that  the  exscinding  acts  were  unconstitu- 
tional, and  therefore  null  and  void,  and  in  consequence 
no  stigma  could  be  attached  to  the  victims  of  said  acts. 
On  this  ground  the  New-School  Assembly  assumed  the 
title  "Constitutional,"  which  after  some  years  appears  to 
have  been  quietly  dropped.  Both  parties  were  wearied  of 
the  turmoil  and  willing  to  let  the  contest  cease  for  the 
sake  of  peace.  Each  one  retained  its  property  and  tacitly 
agreed  to  let  bygones  be  bygones,  and  go  on  in  their  ap- 
propriate duties  as  churches  and  separate  denominations. 
So  great  was  the  desire  to  have  peace  that  numbers  of 
both  parties  remained  with  their  respective  individual 
churches  when  their  sympathies  were  with  the  other  party. 
After  all,  they  both  adhered  to  the  same  confession ;  mean- 
while, the  attrition  of  charity  and  good  feeling  and  mu- 
tual forbearance  in  the  course  of  years  wore  away  the 
harshness  incident  to  the  different  doctrinal  views  which 
did  not  interfere  with  individual  piety  nor  with  Christian 
work. 


XLVI. 

The  Two  Assemblies  Continued. 

The  Old-School  Assembly  met  May  i6,  1839,  i^  Phila- 
delphia. Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson  of  Cincinnati  was  chosen 
moderator.  It  very  properly  on  May  21st  celebrated  with 
appropriate  ceremonies  the  semi-centennial  anniversary 
of  the  organization  of  the  first  General  Assembly,  which 
occurred  on  May  21,  1789  {pp.  207).  The  As- 
sembly devoted  itself  to  the  usual  routine  business  con- 
nected with  the  cares  of  the  churches,  which  at  this  time 
were  numerous  and  various,  and  required  special  pru- 
dence. Its  trustees  were  authorized  and  instructed  to 
oversee  the  affairs  of  the  church,  financially,  which  were 
then  involved  in  civil  suits.  The  report  on  domestic  mis- 
sions told  of  their  continuous  prosperity,  but  complained 
that  probably  "not  more  than  two-thirds  of  our  pastors 
and  churches  do  at  present  render  any  assistance  to  the 
cause."  By  resolution  it  was  declared  "that  the  Presby- 
terian Church  is  by  nature  and  constitution  a  missionary 
society  .  .  .  that  the  distinction  between  foreign 
and  domestic  missions  is  made  only  to  secure  a  division 
of  labor."  The  Board  of  Education  was  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  the  churches  for  their  sympathy  and  support. 
On  the  same  line  the  Board  of  Publication  was  recognized 
and  its  duties  defined  as  to  the  character  of  the  books  it 
was  authorized  to  issue. 

Synods  Dissolved. — This  assembly,  owing  to  the  pecu- 
liar conditions  of  the  time,  dissolved  a  number  of  synods 
but  so  arranging  them  that  the  private  members  and  pres- 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  457 

byteries  could  make  their  choice  of  either  school.  Ac- 
cording to  the  minutes,  the  number  of  communicants  in 
the  church  was  128,043;  the  ministers,  1243;  churches, 
1823.  Funds  contributed  for  domestic  missions  were 
$33-989.  and  for  foreign,  $51,307. 

Abbreviated  Creeds. — The  New-School  Assembly  met 
in  Philadelphia  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May,  1839.  Dr. 
Baxter  Dickinson  was  chosen  moderator.  Among  the 
reports  of  the  committees  was  one  on  "Abbreviated 
Creeds."  This  report  was  accepted  and  adopted.  It 
spoke  in  general  terms  of  approbation  of  these  various 
creeds  in  respect  to  doctrines,  alluding  only  to  very  few 
exceptions.  The  necessity  for  this  investigation  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  assembly  had  arisen  from  the  custom  of  in- 
dividual Congregational  churches  formulating  creeds  for 
themselves,  and  that  some  of  these  were  in  connection 
with  presbyteries.  The  committee  say :  "We  have  found 
the  creeds  adopted  by  these  presbyteries  [their  number 
was  twenty-five]  and  recommended  to  their  churches,  with 
few  exceptions,  full  and  sound  to  a  gratifying  extent." 
Some  were  used  "merely  as  a  form  of  public  consecration 
by  adopting  which  candidates  are  received  to  the  com- 
munion of  the  church."  In  view  of  this  report,  the  as- 
sembly requested  all  presbyteries  "to  examine  this  subject, 
and  if  forms  are  used  by  any  of  their  churches,  to  look 
at  their  character." 

The  assembly  proposed  a  plan  of  division  to  the  Old- 
School  Assembly,  but  the  proposition  was  declined.  It 
recommended  to  students  the  following  theological  semi- 
naries: Auburn,  Lane,  that  of  Western  Reserve,  and 
Union  in  New  York  City.  The  minutes  showed  the 
member  of  communicants,  100,850;  ministry,  1181; 
churches,  1286;  funds  for  missions,  $45,686;  for  educa- 
tion, $12^718. 

31 


458  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

The  Old-School  Assembly  of  1840  met  in  Philadelphia 
on  May  21st  of  that  year. 

The  session  was  characterized  for  its  unanimity  and  for 
being  careful  in  its  routine  business  in  relation  to  the 
wants  of  the  churches. 

The  minutes  of  1840  show  the  number  of  communicants 
to  have  been  126,585;  ministers,  1615;  churches,  1673; 
funds  for  domestic  missions  $35,113,  and  for  foreign, 
$48,523.  Here  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  whole  amount 
contributed  in  1840  fell  short  of  that  of  1839  only  $1645, 
while  the  decrease  of  ministers  was  208,  with  perhaps 
a  corresponding  diminution  in  the  number  of  the  churches. 
This  change,  no  doubt,  was  brought  about  in  consequence 
of  the  assembly  of  1839  having  dissolved  so  many  synods, 
thus  giving  an  opportunity  for  changes  on  the  part  of 
those  who  wished  to  withdraw,  whether  ministers  or 
churches. 

The  New-School  Assembly  met  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
third  Tuesday  of  May,  1840.  Dr.  William  Wisner 
was  chosen  moderator.  The  minutes  for  that  year 
stated  there  were  102,060  communicants,  1260  ministers; 
churches,  1375;  and  also  that  7421  were  added  to  the 
church  on  their  examination,  and  4180  on  certificate. 

Characteristics  of  Each  School. — The  close  of  the  two 
assemblies  of  1840  marked  their  division  complete,  in  the 
sense  that  between  them  there  were  to  be  no  more  legal 
contests.  Each  one  was  equipped  to  proceed  in  the  line 
of  its  respective  duties,  independent  of  the  other.  The 
Old-School  Assembly  with  its  adherents  was  a  harmonious 
and  compact  organization,  homogeneous  in  its  character; 
that  is,  agreeing  in  doctrine  and  church  polity.  The 
New  School,  on  the  other  hand,  was  not  homogeneous  in 
all  respects.  There  were  quite  a  number  of  its  members 
who  had  been  reared  as  Congregationalists,  and  with 
whose  church  polity  they  sympathized,  though  they  had 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES    CONTINUED.  459 

united  with  the  Presbyterians,  more,  perhaps,  because 
of  their  surroundings  than  from  choice.  While  those 
originally  Presbyterians  accepted  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  look  after  the  abbre- 
viated creeds  and  its  report  thereon  was  evidence  of  a 
lack  of  harmony  within  that  body  in  respect  to  doctrinal 
views. 

Committee  ad  Interim. — The  New-School  Assembly 
instead  of  meeting  annually,  resolved  to  meet  triennially, 
and  in  consequence  it  deemed  it  expedient  to  appoint  a 
committee  ad  interim,  or  consulting  committee  of  five 
ministers  and  five  ruling  elders,  in  connection  with  its 
three  clerks,  who  were  to  be  ex-oMcio  members.  This 
committee  had  power  to  act  as  the  agent  of  the  as- 
sembly in  certain  respects,  and  was  enjoined  to  report  to 
the  next  assembly,  which  was  to  meet  in  Philadelphia 
three  years  hence,  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May,  1843. 

The  Two  Plans  for  Mission  Work. — Which  plan  was 
the  better — the  voluntary  or  the  denominational — in  con- 
ducting missionary  and  educational  work,  was  now  to  be 
more  fully  tested.  The  former  had  been  in  practice  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  had  produced  good 
results,  for  which  reason  the  New-School  brethren  were 
not  willing  to  make  a  change  for  the  latter,  which  partook 
of  the  nature  of  a  theory  that  had  been  only  partially 
developed.  One  argument  urged  that  by  uniting  in  evan- 
gelical work  a  Christian  fraternal  feeling  would  be  pro- 
moted among  the  private  members  of  the  various 
churches  and  denominations  thus  engaged.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  contended  that  the  ex-ofhcio  or  denomina- 
tional plan  would  enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  private 
members  of  the  denomination  more,  when  it  engaged  in 
the  work  of  missions  alone,  than  in  connection  with 
others.  It  would  certainly  induce  a  more  vivid  sense  of 
responsibility,  individual  in  character,  among  its  intelli- 


460         A    HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

gent  private  members,  and  in  consequence  lead  them  in 
their  respective  duties  and  contributions  to  make  unusual 
personal  sacrifices  to  aid  the  cause.  The  history  of 
American  missions  at  home  and  abroad,  for  the  last  half 
century,  has  given  striking  evidence  of  the  utility  of  the 
denominational  plan,  and  that  recognition  has  led  to  its 
adoption  by  the  respective  denominations.  The  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Missions — originally  voluntary — is  to-day 
virtually  the  agent  of  the  Congregational  Church  alone; 
a  similar  relation  to  a  denomination  may  be  predicated  of 
every  other  missionary  society — foreign  or  home — in  the 
Union.  This  change  has  been  brought  about  by  the  in- 
fluence of  conditions  being  constantly  modified  during 
the  last  fifty  years ;  such  as  the  gradual  rising  of  church 
members  to  a  higher  plane  of  general  intelligence,  the 
prominence  that  has  been  given  to  the  study  of  the  Bible 
by  the  youth  of  the  Protestant  churches,  while  consistent 
with  this  progress  is  also  a  clearer  sense  of  individual 
responsibility  resting  upon  the  ministry  and  the  church 
people  or  members.  To  these  conditions  may  be  added 
the  increase  of  population  and  of  wealth,  and  the  greater 
facilities  of  intercourse  between  the  different  sections  of 
our  own  country  and  with  the  outside  world.  Even  the 
disturbing  events  of  a  civil  war  have  been  overruled  by 
Divine  providence  to  develop,  more  than  hitherto,  an  in- 
terest in  missions  to  every  class  of  the  destitute  in  our 
own  land. 

An  Indirect  Influence. — The  intelligent  American 
Christian  who  understands  the  condition — spiritual  and 
temporal — of  the  church  in  countries  where  it  is  so  united 
with  the  government  as  to  be  dependent  upon  it  for  sup- 
port, may  well  be  thankful  that  the  principle  of  the  sepa- 
ration of  church  and  state  is  embodied  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  his  own  country.  Though  this  separation  may  in 
one  sense  be  true,  yet  there  is  an  important  and  intimate 


THE     TWO     ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  46 1 

connection  between  the  two.  The  State  can  in  certain 
respects  have  an  indirect  and  powerful  influence  upon  the 
support  of  the  church  in  sustaining  its  appropriate  work. 
For  illustration,  in  efforts  to  maintain  itself  and  meet  the 
expenses  incident  to  extending  the  gospel  and  a  Christian 
civilization  throughout  the  Union,  the  church  depends 
entirely  upon  the  voluntary  contributions  of  its  friends, 
whose  ability  so  to  do  may  also  depend,  more  or  less, 
upon  the  financial  and  economical  measures  that  are  in- 
troduced, especially  by  the  general  government.  All 
financial  measures  must,  of  necessity,  affect,  either  bene- 
ficially or  adversely,  the  industrial  and  commercial  in- 
terests of  the  Nation,  and  thereby  on  a  similar  line,  but 
indirectly,  the  support  of  the  churches  and  their  work. 
All  such  measures  affect  the  church  beneficially  when 
they  encourage  legitimate  industries,  thus  giving  employ- 
ment to  the  workpeople;  and  adversely  when  their  influ- 
ence depresses  wages  and  incomes,  and  thereby  diminishes 
the  ability  of  Christian  people  to  sustain  by  their  con- 
tributions the  ordinances  of  the  gospel.  For  that  reason 
and  many  others  it  is  clearly  the  patriotic  duty  of  mem- 
bers of  the  church  to  become  sufiiciently  intelligent  to 
exercise  properly,  and  that  in  a  conscientious  manner, 
their  rights  as  citisens,  and  thus  aid  in  preventing  such 
evils,  by  judiciously  choosing  their  representatives  to  the 
legislative  bodies — State  and  National.  If  they  do  not 
perform  this  patriotic  and  likewise  Christian  duty,  they 
are  so  far  responsible  for  the  consequences.  The  financial 
affairs  of  the  church  should  be  conducted  on  correct  busi- 
ness principles. 

Financial  Disturbances.— K.t  this  period  (1833-1843) 
there  were  unprecedented  disturbances  in  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  Nation,  but  more  especially  in  those  of  the 
people  themselves,  for  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  they 
were  virtually  bankrupt  while  the  government  itself  was 


462  A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

rich.  The  industrial  and  commercial  interests  of  the 
former  were  at  length  prostrated  by  the  tremendous  crash 
of  1837.  (Four  Hundred  Years,  etc.,  pp.  731-734.)  The 
evils  thus  induced  lasted  for  five  or  six  years  longer,  and 
amid  these  discouragements  the  entire  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  both  divisions,  exercised  much  self-denial  and 
went  forward  nobly  in  the  efforts  to  sustain  its  work. 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  have  a  true  conception  of 
the  inner  history  of  the  church,  we  deem  it  necessary  to 
thus  notice  the  contemporary  public  measures,  that  often 
have  financially  so  much  to  do,  though  indirectly,  in  re- 
tarding or  in  promoting  its  prosperity.  The  intelligent 
reader  can  remember  and  easily  divine  the  reason  why 
the  General  Assembly  of  1895  adjourned  with  all  its 
boards  burdened  with  an  unusually  heavy  debt. 


XLVII. 

r 
The  Two  Assemblies  Continued. 

Protests  and  Criticisms. — We  will  notice  briefly  some 
of  the  consequences  of  the  division.  The  work  of  ad- 
justing the  affairs  of  the  church  began  and  went  on  until 
completed  in  both  divisions.  The  process  affected  synods 
and  presbyteries,  invaded  individual  churches,  and  often 
alienated  friendships  of  long  standing  among  the  mem- 
bers. There  were  large  numbers  of  intelligent  private 
church  members  who  had  been  close  observers  of  the  pro- 
ceedings by  which  the  division  had  been  secured,  and  who 
adhered  to  the  Old  School,  but  were  not  in  sympathy  with 
the  mode  in  which  that  result  had  been  attained.  There 
were  also  numbers  of  ministers,  some  prominent  in  the 
church,  such  as  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  pastor  of  the  his- 
torical Brick  Church  of  New  York,  and  Dr.  Ichabod 
Spencer  of  Brooklyn,  who  protested  most  earnestly 
against  the  exscinding  acts.  There  were  also  outside  well- 
wishers  toward  the  Presbyterian  Church,  who  were  made 
sad.  The  venerable  Professor  Leonard  Woods  of  And- 
over  Seminary,  wrote :  "When  I  heard  of  them  [the  ex- 
scisions]  I  was  grieved  and  astonished,  and  constrained 
to  ask  whether  there  is  anything  in  the  Bible  or  in  the 
constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  which  can  war- 
rant such  proceedings."  Others  of  the  outside  world 
could  understand  the  practical  workings  of  the  exscinding 
measures  if  they  could  not  comprehend  the  importance 
of  the  doctrinal  differences  and  policies  that  had  been 
under  discussion  in  the  church  judicatures  from  year  to 


464  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

year,  and  they  also  made  adverse  criticisms.  Ardent  Con- 
gregationalists,  especially,  seized  the  occasion  to  ful- 
minate charges  against  the  Presbyterian  polity,  which 
could  authorize  such  arbitrary  measures.  These  good 
friends,  in  their  zeal,  did  not  recognize  the  fact  that  the 
prime  movers  in  this  affair  knew  better,  and  never 
claimed  that  the  exscinding  acts  were  in  accordance  with 
the  constitutional  polity  of  the  church,  but  deemed  them 
^.r/ra-constitutional.  They  were  constrained  to  apologize 
for  their  action  by  pleading  the  extreme  emergency  of 
the  case.  Under  the  circumstances  they  were  compelled 
to  accept  what  appeared  the  less  of  two  evils :  either  to 
continue  in  a  connection  that  produced  incessant  turmoil, 
which  was  crushing  out  the  spiritual  life  of  the  church 
and  would  eventually  impair  its  polity,  or  by  a  stringent 
measure  cause  an  excision  of  the  synods,  but  in  such  man- 
ner as  to  leave  the  way  open  for  their  discordant  ele- 
ments to  separate,  and  then,  in  accordance  with  their  re- 
spective wishes,  unite  with  one  or  the  other  division. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  numbers  of  ministers  and  in- 
telligent church  members,  who  kept  themselves  in  touch 
with  the  ecclesiastical  trials  and  other  movements;  who 
were  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  direct  influence  of  the 
plan  of  union,  and  who,  in  their  doctrinal  views,  were 
in  full  accord  with  the  Confession  of  Faith,  yet  in  their 
church  relations  allied  themselves  with  the  New  School, 
as  was  the  case,  partially  in  the  Southern  presbyteries. 
There  were  also  numbers  in  other  portions  of  the  church 
who  had  been  reared  amid  Congregational  influences  and 
whose  sympathies  were  in  the  same  direction,  but  allied 
themselves  with  the  other  school. 

The  Adjustments. — At  the  close  of  more  than  half  a 
century  after  the  times  of  which  we  write,  it  does  not 
seem  expedient  nor  profitable  to  tax  the  reader  with  a 
monotonous  detail  of  the  numerous  adjustments  in  syn- 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  465 

ods,  in  presbyteries  and  churches,  that  grew  out  of  the 
division.  These  adjustments,  though  each  one  was  of 
a  local  character,  continued  for  a  length  of  time.  Num- 
bers of  them  were  sad  in  their  results,  as  when  a  church 
self-supporting  and  doing  a  good  work,  was  divided  into 
two,  each  half  not  self-supporting  and  the  good  work 
paralyzed.  Yet  there  were  some  instances  in  which  such 
separation  was  graciously  overruled  for  the  general 
good. 

The  church  in  Kentucky  was  greatly  disturbed;  more, 
indeed,  than  in  any  other  State,  and  the  evil  effects  of  the 
unusually  long  turmoil  had  a  deleterious  influence  upon 
its  progress.  (See  Davidson's  "Kentucky.")  In  other 
portions  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  the  results,  so  un- 
fortunate, were  plainly  visible,  especially  because  of  the 
marked  falling  off  of  the  home  missionary  work,  to  renew 
which  to  its  former  efficiency  took  some  years.  We  can 
have  only  a  partial  conception  of  the  confusion  that  must 
have  prevailed  within  the  church  during  these  years  of 
readjustments.  More  than  twenty  synods  and  their  re- 
spective presbyteries  were  agitated  on  the  questions  in- 
volved, and  yet  the  evil  consequence  that  affected  these 
judicatures  in  themselves,  was  as  nothing  when  com- 
pared with  that  which  interfered  with  the  peace  and  piety 
of  the  church  members. 

The  Work  of  Both  Assemblies. — The  two  branches 
finally  in  an  earnest  manner  took  up  their  appropriate 
work.  The  New  School  continued  to  contribute  to  the 
funds  of  the  voluntary  associations,  the  American  Board, 
and  the  Home  Missionary  and  American  Educational 
societies,  and  still  maintained  their  liberal  views  and 
policy.  The  Old  School,  as  soon  as  possible,  entered  in- 
dependently upon  a  similar  line  of  Christian  work,  and  its 
churches  came  forward  and  nobly  aided  the  cause  by 
liberal  contributions.     The  promptness  in  the  latter  re- 


466         A    HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

spect  was  credited  by  some  outsiders,  to  mere  denomina- 
tional zeal,  but  when  we  analyze  the  motives  of  these 
donors,  it  seems  rather  the  result  of  a  recognition  of  the 
responsibility  that  pervaded  the  minds  of  intelligent 
church  members,  since  they  clearly  realized  that  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  its  distinct  organization  was  a  mis- 
sionary society,  and  that  its  individual  private  members 
ought  to  do  their  share  by  furnishing  the  funds  neces- 
sary to  carry  on  the  work.  Certain  leaders  might  have 
been  partially  actuated  by  denominational  zeal,  but  among 
church  members  such  motives  were  scarcely  known,  but 
to  perform  a  Christian  duty  in  promoting  the  gospel  was 
an  ever-present  stimulus. 

Both  the  assemblies  at  their  respective  sessions  in  1843 
celebrated  with  appropriate  ceremonies  and  addresses  the 
two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  meeting  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly. 

At  the  New-School  Assembly  of  1843  the  committee 
ad  interim  reported  and  their  report  was  adopted.  The 
assembly  "commended  the  zeal  and  fidelity  of  the  com- 
mittee in  the  novel  circumstances  in  which  in  the  province 
of  God  they  had  been  placed."  That  assembly  was  dis- 
solved, and  its  successor  was  to  meet  in  1846. 

Aloof  from  Slavery  Agitation — Conversions. — The 
Old-School  Assembly  kept  aloof,  as  far  as  possible,  from 
the  anti-slavery  agitation,  referring  as  occasion  required 
to  its  deliverance  on  that  subject  in  1 818.  In  consequence 
of  this  policy  the  portion  of  the  church  that  was  in  the 
slave-labor  States,  though  only  partially  satisfied,  con- 
tinued in  connection  with  that  body  till  the  firing  on  Fort 
Sumter  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  This  assembly  had 
the  advantage  of  being  quite  homogeneous,  inasmuch  as 
those  who  were  not  perfectly  in  sympathy  with  all  its 
modes  of  action,  did  not  withdraw,  but  remained  in  the 
connection  and  aided  the  cause  with  their  means  and  in- 


THE    TWO     ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  467 

fluence.  It  resigned  all  interest  and  claims  in  the  other 
missions  to  which  it  had  contributed  funds,  and  instead, 
entered  upon  its  own  foreign  and  domestic  mission  work; 
looked  after  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  min- 
istry, and  made  provision  in  its  Church  Extension 
Committee  to  aid  feeble  churches  and  in  providing 
houses  of  worship.  Its  pathway  was  comparatively 
smooth,  but  the  political  agitation  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  Mexican  War  and  during  its  contin- 
uance, had  the  effect  of  causing  a  decrease  in  the  number 
of  conversions  from  the  world.  In  1844  these  conversions 
were  twelve  thousand  and  sixty-eight,  which  number 
gradually  diminished  till  in  1847  it  was  only  seven  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  two,  after  which  year  the  number 
began  again  to  increase  till  in  1853  there  were  reported 
eleven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-six.  The  Old 
School  in  1844  had  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand 
four  hundred  and  eighty-seven  communicants,  and  in 
1853,  two  hundred  and  nineteen  thousand  two  hundred 
and  sixty-three.  The  New  School  in  1843  had  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-six 
communicants,  and  in  1853,  one  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  fifty-two. 

Difficulties  in  Cooperation. — After  the  completed  di- 
vision in  1838  the  New  School  and  the  Congregationalists 
cooperated  for  some  years  harmoniously  in  their  appro- 
priate work.  The  former  gave  their  contributions  nearly 
all  to  the  common  fund  of  the  voluntary  societies.  In  re- 
lation to  foreign  missions  there  appears  to  have  been 
no  difficulty  in  their  being  carried  on  conjointly,  but  in 
conducting  home  missions  there  happened  to  be  more  or 
less  friction,  which  hampered  the  work.  The  New- 
School  branch,  as  a  denomination,  was  retarded  in  its 
progress  because  of  its  not  being  truly  homogeneous 
nor  in  perfect  harmony  with  itself.     Its  members,  those 


468         A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

who  were  originally  Congregationalists,  seeing  the  effects 
that  resulted  from  the  excision  acts,  became  more  and 
more  inclined  to  act  in  their  missions  independently  as  a 
denomination,  and  in  consequence  began  virtually  to 
withdraw  from  cooperating  in  the  Home  Mission  and 
Educational  societies.  This  action  seems  to  have  arisen 
from  the  fact  that  some  of  these  churches  thus  aided  were 
Congregational,  some  Presbyterian,  and  others  that  were 
mixed  or  composed  of  both  parties.  There  appears  to 
have  grown  up,  as  incidental  to  such  conditions,  a  sort 
of  rivalry,  perhaps  unconscious,  between  these  congre- 
gations. The  Presbyterians  complained  that  their  mis- 
sion churches  did  not  receive  the  amount  of  aid  to  which 
they  were  entitled;  that  is,  in  proportion  to  what  they 
contributed.  The  answer  to  the  complaint  was  that  the 
rules  of  the  society,  in  a  measure,  restricted  donations  to 
Presbyterian  churches,  and  when  an  appeal  was  made  to 
the  Eastern  Congregational  churches  the  request  was 
denied.  Then  the  Presbyterians,  in  order  to  aid  their 
own  churches,  took  up  special  collections  in  addition  to 
what  they  had  contributed  to  the  general  fund ;  the  Home 
Missionary  Society  complained  of  these  collections,  con- 
tending that  they,  too,  should  go  into  the  general  fund. 
In  i860  this  question  came  up  in  the  General  Assembly, 
and  its  minutes  say:  "We  deeply  regret  that  our  rela- 
tions to  the  Home  Missionary  Society  seem  to  grow 
more  and  more  complicated  and  embarrassing.  .  .  . 
The  leading  Congregational  associations  in  their  action 
seem  to  forbode  a  speedy  dissolution  of  the  copartnership 
in  that  society."  Then  in  allusion  to  the  fault-finding 
with  Presbyterians  making  special  collections  to  aid 
strictly  Presbyterian  churches,  the  assembly  says:  "We 
have  never  expressly  nor  by  remote  implication  bound 
ourselves  to  make  that  society  the  exclusive  agent  of  our 
church  in  the  home  missionary  work."     The  assembly 


THE     TWO     ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  469 

in  order  to  provide  against  future  deficiencies  had  seven 
years  before,  in  1853,  determined  to  raise  a  fund  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  by  its  own  exertions,  to  be 
used  specially  in  aiding  such  churches.  The  effort  was  at 
length  successful,  and  this  fact  stimulated  the  members 
of  the  church  to  greater  exertions  in  aiding  the  cause. 

The  Secession  of  Synods. — There  were  other  elements 
of  discord,  and  in  1858  in  consequence  of  the  slavery 
agitation,  six  Southern  Synods  withdrew  from  their  con- 
nection with  the  New-School  Assembly.  They  were  the 
Synods  of  Missouri,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
West  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi ;  in  all,  twenty-one  pres- 
byteries and  more  than  fifteen  thousand  church  mem- 
bers. They  constituted  themselves  "The  United  Synod 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  That  body  stood  aloof 
until  1864,  when  the  two  Southern  branches  united  under 
the  present  title,  "The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States." 

The  American  Missionary  Association. — This  or- 
ganization was  distinctly  Congregational  in  its  manage- 
ment and  denominational  in  its  operations.  It  would, 
however,  aid  churches  that  were  constituted  on  a  mixed 
basis.  This  arrangement  appears  to  have  had  the  effect 
of  drawing  off  to  the  Congregaitionalists  numbers  of 
churches  thus  organized,  which  were  nominally  Presby- 
terian, and  as  such  were  counted  in  the  statistics.  In 
consequence  of  these  two  depletions  the  New-School 
branch  was  weakened  to  a  large  extent. 

The  Revival  of  iS^y. — A  revival  in  which  the  Pres- 
byterian as  well  as  other  evangelical  denominations  par- 
ticipated, commenced  in  the  City  of  New  York  in  the 
autumn  of  1857.  It  was  remarkable  inasmuch  as  it  came 
upon  men  as  "a  still  small  voice;"  there  were  no  special 
leaders  nor  concerted  action.  It  came  at  the  end  of  a 
period  of  about  ten  years  of  unusual  anxiety  in  the  na- 


470  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH, 

tion — the  Mexican  War,  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  excitements  and  enterprises  that  were  its 
outgrowth.  The  American  people  seemed  weary  and 
needed  rest;  which  came  in  a  manner  that  was  unde- 
sirable, though  it  was  overruled  by  a  beneficent  provi- 
dence to  result  in  untold  blessings.  The  rest  came  in 
the  stagnation  of  nearly  all  the  mechanical  industries  of 
the  land — 'the  political  and  economical  causes  of  which 
we  need  not  here  trace.  Multitudes  were  thrown  out  of 
employment;  a  great  depression  in  business  became  uni- 
versal. In  the  midst  of  these  material  disasters,  men 
engaged  in  their  ordinary  affairs  seemed  to  be  moved 
by  an  all-pervading,  indefinable  influence,  that  turned 
their  attention  to  sacred  subjects.  Impressed  by  this  un- 
usual fact,  a  Christian  man,  Jeremiah  Lamphier,  sexton 
of  the  Collegiate  Church  in  Fulton  street,  opened  one 
of  its  rooms  for  a  midday  hour  of  prayer.  Only  a  few 
attended  at  first,  but  soon  came  crowds,  mostly  business 
men,  and  other  rooms  were  required  for  their  accommo- 
dation. The  influence  spread,  and  within  less  than  a 
year  about  twenty  such  daily  meetings  for  prayer  were 
held  in  different  parts  of  the  city;  a  prominent  theater  in 
one  of  its  busiest  portions  was  crowded  by  earnest  men, 
who  were  instructed  by  eminent  ministers  in  the  gospel 
truths  pertaining  to  personal  religion.  The  same  spirit 
spread  far  and  wide,  and  ere  long  other  cities  and  towns 
were  reached  until  there  was  scarcely  one  in  the  whole 
land  that  did  not  have  a  number  of  similar  prayer-meet- 
ings. They  were  union  in  spirit  and  conducted  in  a 
Christian  and  brotherly  manner;  ministers  of  the  evan- 
gelical denominations  led  in  turn  and  often  well-known 
Christian  laymen.  "This  revival  was  the  introduction 
to  a  new  era  of  the  nation's  spiritual  life.  It  was  a  train- 
ing-school for  a  force  of  lay  evangelists  for  future  work, 


THE     TWO     ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  •    47 1 

eminent  among  whom  is  the  name  of  Dwight  L.  Moody." 
(Am.  Christianity,  p.  344.) 

It  is  estimated  that  through  the  influence  of  these 
prayer-meetings  1,000,000  persons  were  brought  into  the 
church  from  the  outside  world.  The  pubHc  interest  was 
so  great  that  the  leading  newspapers  noticed  these  meet- 
ings from  day  to  day,  and  from  that  day  on  the  secular 
press  has  been  accustomed  to  notice  more  or  less  fully  the 
religious  movements  of  the  times.  The  Fulton  street 
"noonday  prayer-meeting"  still  continues. 


XLVIII. 
The  Two  Assemblies  Continued. 

^  Decided  Stand  Taken. — The  affairs  of  the  Nation 
were  now  rapidly  approaching  a  crisis,  unprecedented 
in  its  history — the  commencement  of  a  civil  war  that 
resulted  in  consequences  second  only  in  importance  to 
those  of  the  Revolution. 

About  one  month  after  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  both 
the  New  and  the  Old-School  assemblies  met  in  Philadel- 
phia, May,  1861.  They  both  took  high  and  patriotic 
ground  in  respect  to  the  war  thus  wantonly  inaugurated. 
The  New  School,  in  condemnation,  traced  its  cause  to 
the  deliberate  purpose  of  those  who  had  thus  insulted 
the  flag  of  their  country,  to  sustain  and  make  perpetual 
the  then  existing  system  of  slavery.  During  the  sad  con- 
flict Its  members  maintained  the  same  high  standard  of 
patriotism  and  made  great  sacrifices  to  preserve  the 
Union. 

The  Old  School  enunciated  the  sentiments  of  the 
church,  when  on  motion  of  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring  it  re- 
solved :  "That  the  members  of  this  General  Assembly,  in 
the  spirit  of  that  Christian  patriotism  which  the  Scrip- 
tures enjoin,  and  which  has  always  characterized  this 
church,  do  hereby  acknowledge  and  declare  their  obliga- 
tion, so  far  as  in  them  lies,  to  maintain  the  Constitu- 
tion of  these  United  States  in  the  full  exercise  of  all  its 
legitimate  powers,  to  preserve  our  beloved  Union  un- 
impaired, and  to  restore  its  inestimable  blessings  to  every 
portion  of  the  land."    The  vote  stood  one  hundred  and 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES    CONTINUED.  473 

fifty-six  in  the  affirmative  to  sixty-six  in  the  negative. 
In  justice  to  the  limited  number  of  the  members  from 
the  free-labor  States  who  voted  in  the  negative,  it  should 
be  stated  that  they  were  not  disloyal  to  the  Union,  but 
they  believed  the  church,  as  such,  should  act  only  on 
spiritual  affairs,  and  not  even  by  implication  take  part 
in  those  that  were  secular.  The  Southern  members,  then 
and  afterward,  almost  universally  held  the  extreme  view 
of  the  church  keeping  itself  aloof  from  acting  on  secular 
affairs.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
minutes  of  their  assemblies  held  during  the  Civil  War 
allusion  is  scarcely  ever  made  to  that  subject,  though  to  all 
it  must  have  been  of  absorbing  interest. 

The  above  resolution,  with  others  of  similar  import, 
deeply  offended  the  portion  of  the  Old  School  branch 
within  the  slave-labor  States.  These  members,  accord- 
ingly, withdrew  and  formed  "The  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  Confederate  States  of  America." 

We  have  already  seen  (/>.  46^)  the  New-School  As- 
sembly, to  a  certain  extent,  freed  by  the  secession  of 
synods,  from  the  continuous  and  bitter  discussions  of  the 
question  of  slavery,  and  now  the  Old  School  experi- 
enced a  similar  relief.  These  discussions  had  been  very 
disturbing  in  their  influence,  as  they  often  produced 
harsh  feelings  because  of  misunderstandings  arising  from 
extreme  views  of  both  parties  coming  in  collision  and 
ignoring  a  middle  course,  that  might  not  have  compro- 
mised the  church  with  the  evil  and  yet  could  have  con- 
sistently labored  for  its  removal.  It  is  better,  if  possible, 
to  look  at  the  question  from  the  standpoint  of  the  good 
and  earnest  men,  who  in  that  day  confronted  the  evil 
face  to  face,  than  from  the  point  of  view  taken  after 
an  experiment  of  thirty  odd  years. 

A  Change  in  the  Mode  of  Conducting  Missions. — 
Owing  to  the  continual  dissatisfaction  in  conducting  mis- 
32 


474  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH, 

sions  on  the  voluntary  or  cooperative  plan,  the  New 
School  began  to  verge  toward  the  ex-officio  system.  The 
Congregationalists,  as  we  have  seen  {p.  468),  had  al- 
ready given  indications  of  their  moving  in  the  same  di- 
rection. Their  General  Assembly  of  1861,  as  an  earnest 
of  this  change  of  policy,  resolved  "to  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility of  conducting  the  work  of  home  missions 
within  its  bounds;"  which  theory  of  action  was  declared 
to  be  in  accordance  "with  the  constitution  of  the  church." 
In  consequence,  a  permanent  committee  was  appointed, 
"The  Presbyterian  Committee  on  Home  Missions."  The 
report  of  this  committee  to  the  next  assembly  made 
known  the  encouraging  fact  that  the  churches  had 
promptly  and  liberally  responded  with  their  contributions 
to  thus  carry  on  the  work.  Notwithstanding  the  in- 
creasing dissatisfaction  with  the  voluntary  plan,  the  New 
School  churches  in  great  numbers  still  continued  to  con- 
tribute to  the  funds  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society, 
which  the  same  year  (1862),  "receipted  for  nearly  forty 
thousand  dollars  from  persons  known  to  be  Presby- 
terians or  from  churches  connected  with  presbyteries,  or 
places  where  there  was  known  to  be  a  Presbyterian 
church  alone."  {Gillett,  II.,  p.  562.)  From  this  fund, 
"or  any  considerable  portion  of  it,"  because  of  cer- 
tain rules — which  could  have  been  easily  changed — "Pres- 
byterian churches  could  derive  no  aid."  The  committee 
on  ministerial  education,  it  appears,  had  not  been  spe- 
cially successful  in  its  work  owing  to  the  cooperative 
plan,  and  in  that  case,  too,  it  became  necessary  "to  har- 
monize the  plans  and  concentrate  the  energies  of  the 
church."  Another  distinct  denominational  effort  was 
previously  made  in  establishing  in  1852  a  board  known 
as  "The  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee,"  which  two 
years  later  was  directed  "to  publish  such  works  of  an 
evangelical  character  as  may  be  profitable  to  the  church  at 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  475 

large."  The  latter  work  languished  so  much  as  to  attract 
attention,  and  in  1863  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  churches 
to  furnish  a  fund  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  they  re- 
sponding liberally,  contributed  the  amount. 

The  Old  School  Unhindered. — While  the  New-School 
brethren  were  thus  unfortunately  trammeled,  the  Old 
School,  free  from  such  hindrances  were  vigorously  prose- 
cuting their  work.  The  latter  had  the  essential  appliances 
for  so  doing,  especially  in  their  missions,  foreign  and  do- 
mestic; they  had  also  boards  of  ministerial  education  and 
of  publication  and  church  extension.  The  church  in  its 
individual  capacity  being  harmonious  in  its  management 
and  not  hindered  by  uncongenial  combinations,  went  on 
in  a  quiet  manner  and  in  a  moderate  degree  increased 
its  membership  by  additions  from  the  world.  From  1858 
to  1869  was  a  time  of  unparalleled  turmoil  in  the  Nation 
itself,  including  the  special  agitation  preceding  the  Civil 
War,  that  itself,  and  the  Reconstruction  period.  The  in- 
fluence of  these  for  each  special  time,  had  a  depressing 
effect  upon  the  progress  of  spirituality  in  both  churches 
and  in  the  whole  land.  For  several  reasons  the  Old 
School  held  its  own  in  the  slave-labor  States  up  to  1861 
and  was  successful  in  its  duties,  while  it  was  equally  ener- 
getic in  the  different  fields  in  the  West  and  among  the 
churches  in  the  Northern  States.  From  the  division  up 
to  the  time  of  firing  on  Sumter  it  had  had  peace  with- 
in its  borders,  and  was  thus  free  to  promote  its  appropriate 
work, 

Emancipation — The  Freedmen. — The  Proclamation 
that  freed  the  slaves,  January  i,  1863,  prepared  the  way 
for  opening  a  vast  field  for  domestic  missions  in  aid  of 
the  freedmen.  The  latter  would  now  be  permitted,  and 
even  urged  to  learn  to  read  and  write,  and  have  the  gospel 
presented  to  them  untrammeled  by  laws  antagonistic  to 
the  principles  of  Christianity,  as  embodied  in  the  Golden 


476  A    HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Rule.     Their  future,  even  when  their  freedom  was  pro- 
claimed, was  under  a  cloud.    The  Presbyterian  Church  in 
both  its  branches,  began  as  soon  as  the  way  was  opened, 
to  do  its  share  in  lifting  that  cloud,  by  means  of  self- 
denying  missionaries  and  teachers,  while  the  liberal  con- 
tributions of  its  private  members   sustained  the  work. 
Here  was  a  race  emerging  from  a  servitude  lasting  more 
than  two  hundred  years,  in  which  the  cruelty  of  the  bond- 
age was  enhanced  by  laws  designed  to  keep  the  victims 
in  a  state  of  mental  imbecility,  by  forbidding  under  se- 
vere penalties  their  being  taught  to  read — a  wanton  out- 
rage, unknown    even    to    the    slaveholders    of    ancient 
heathen  Rome,     When  the  conditions  under  which  they 
have  labored  are  considered,  the  progress  of  the  freed- 
men  since  that  time  is  simply  marvelous,  in  almost  every 
respect.    Nor  must  we  overlook  the  leaven  of  the  gospel 
that  in  spite  of  such  laws  had  been  placed  in  the  minds 
of  these  people  by  the  limited  means  of  oral  instruction  in 
the  truths  of  Christianity,  and  which  led  them  to  believe 
that  their  deliverance  would  come  from  the  outside,  simi- 
lar to  that  of  the  Israelites  of  old — in  this  respect  their 
trust  in  Providence  was   marvelous.     They  themselves 
were  passive ;  they  were  waiting  for  a  Moses  to  lead  them 
out.       (Four  Hundred   Years,  etc.,  p.  966.)      To  fully 
understand  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  church,  it 
must  be  recognized  that  this  question  had  another  side, 
one  that  involved  economical  principles  which  led  to  po- 
litical action  on  the  part  of  the  National  government  and 
also  within  the  several  States.     These  measures  in  the 
minds  of  the  Christian  portion  of  the  people  gave  tone 
to  the  moral  aspects  of  the  case,  though  that  feature  was 
apparently  overlooked  by  a  certain  class  of  public  men, 
who  sneered  at  Christian  statesmen  as  being  of  the  "Sun- 
day-school order." 
Innovations  Attempted. — We  have  seen  that  as  soon  as 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES    CONTINUED.  477 

the  division  was  completed  a  desire  for  a  change  from  the 
perfect  presbyterial  order  began  to  manifest  itself  in  the 
New-School  branch.  The  innovation  was  first  made  in 
respect  to  the  annual  meetings  of  the  General  Assembly, 
which  were  hereafter  to  be  triennial.  The  presbytery  and 
the  synod  were  left  intact  as  to  their  legislative  and  disci- 
plinary powers.  The  change  to  the  triennial  assemblies  im- 
paired the  utility  and  the  symmetry  of  the  system  of  pres- 
byterial oversight  of  the  churches.  Other  changes  were, 
also  made.  "Unfortunate  in  their  leaders  .  .  .  they 
[the  Presbyterian  portion]  allowed  the  project  of  modify- 
ing the  Constitution  of  the  Church  to  pass  without  oppo- 
sition, only  a  few  years  later  to  repudiate  their  incon- 
siderate mistake  by  a  prompt  restoration  of  the  'Book' 
to  its  original  integrity."  {G.,  II.,  p.  554.)  These  re- 
spective changes  can  be  traced  directly  to  the  influence  of 
Congregationalism,  that  had  been  for  a  number  of  years 
creeping  into  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  for  the  most 
part  produced  the  New-School  phase  of  that  body.  It 
is  consistent  for  an  advocate  of  a  polity  that  makes  every 
church  organization  independent  of  all  others,  singly  or 
combined,  to  oppose  church  judicatures  that  have  legisla- 
tive power,  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  sanction  a  council 
that  has  only  the  negative  authority  of  being  advisory  in 
its  character. 

From  this  independency  of  individual  churches  rose  the 
voluntary  missionary  associations,  but  about  1852  and  on- 
ward the  theory  that  the  church  in  its  denominational 
capacity  ought  to  carry  on  missionary  work,  began  to  pre- 
vail among  Congregationalists,  many  of  whom  were 
members  of  churches  in  connection  with  the  New-School 
Assembly,  and  who  seemed  to  be  preparing  to  follow  the 
Connecticut  Association,  which  in  1797  declared  itself  in 
almost  so  many  words  to  be  e.v-officio,  a  missionary  so- 
ciety.    This  sentiment  culminated  in   1852   at  Albany, 


478         A    HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

when  the  Congregational  Convention  repudiated  the  plan 
of  union  of  which  in  1837  they  were  such  strenuous  ad- 
vocates. The  result  of  this  decision  was  the  abandonment 
of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  that  had  hitherto  contrib- 
uted to  the  Home  Missionary  Society  and  in  proportion 
depended  upon  it  for  the  needed  aid.  These  Presbyterian 
churches  thus  thrown  upon  their  own  resources  withheld 
their  contributions  from  that  society  and  applied  them  to 
sustain  their  own  churches. 

Triennial  Assemblies — Protests. — The  experiment  of 
triennial  assemblies  was  continued  up  to  the  meeting  in 
1846  wherein  the  almost  interminable  discussion  on  the 
slavery  question  was  protracted  at  intervals  for  three 
weeks,  and  in  consequence  an  immense  amount  of  routine 
and  important  business  was  left  unfinished.  Meantime, 
protests  were  coming  in  against  the  present  system  of 
triennial  meetings  and  the  anomalous  committee  ad  in- 
terim. The  protests  came  principally  from  the  Western 
churches.  They  complained:  "That  in  the  absence  of 
an  annual  assembly,  our  churches  had  been  left  for  a 
longer  time  than  formerly  without  the  visible  bond  of 
unity  and  without  the  frequent  supervision  and  control  of 
the  highest  judicature  of  the  church,"  The  assembly  of 
1846,  therefore,  found  it  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the 
wants  made  known  by  these  protests,  to  meet  the  follow- 
ing year,  and  designated  Cincinnati  as  the  place.  This 
was  the  first  instance  of  a  General  Assembly  meeting  out- 
side the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  Once  more  it  was  thought 
best  to  meet  triennially  and  that  assembly  resolved  to 
meet  in  Detroit,  Michigan,  in  1850.  The  comparative 
utility  and  necessity  for  annual  meetings  made  it  plainly 
expedient  to  return  to  them,  and  thus  the  original  custom 
was  resumed  after  1850  and  continued  to  the  reunion  in 
1870. 

The  Singular  Results. — Owing  to  the  secession  of  the 


THE    TWO    ASSEMBLIES     CONTINUED.  4^9 

seven  Southern  synods  in  1858  the  minutes  of  i860  of  the 
New-School  Assembly  revealed  a  falling  off  of  sixty- 
seven  ministers  and  one  hundred  and  forty-five  churches, 
and  about  fifteen  thousand  communicants.  From  i860  to 
1869  its  ministers  increased  in  number  three  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  while  its  churches  during  the  same  time  in- 
creased only  one  hundred  and  forty-nine.  The  minutes 
of  the  latter  year  show  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight 
ministers  and  sixteen  hundred  and  thirty-one  churches — 
that  is,  two  hundred  and  seventeen  more  ministers  than 
churches.  In  consequence  of  the  secession  of  the  "Pres- 
byterian Church  South"  in  1861,  it  was  shown  by  the 
minutes  of  1863  that  the  Old  School  had  lost  six  hundred 
and  fifty-four  ministers  and  eleven  hundred  and  forty 
churches.  In  referring  to  the  minutes  we  find  that  in 
1863  to  1869  it  increased  in  its  ministers  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six,  and  in  its  churches  one  hundred  and 
ninety-four.  The  statistics  of  1869  ^o^"  that  year  show 
the  total  number  of  ministers  to  have  been  two  thousand 
three  hundred  and  eighty-one,  and  of  churches  two  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  forty — that  is,  three  hundred  and 
Hfty-two  more  churches  than  ministers. 


XLIX. 
iThe  Reunion. 

Within  a  few  years  after  the  division  took  place  great 
numbers  of  private  members  in  both  branches  of  the 
church  began  to  look  upon  the  separation  as  a  misfortune 
to  the  cause  and  the  progress  of  religion  itself.  These 
Presbyterians  were  willing  and  even  desirous  to  let  the 
harsh  measures  and  bitter  sayings  of  the  past  be  for- 
gotten and  to  mutually  condone  the  mistakes  that  had 
been  made  by  both  parties.  Such  was,  undoubtedly,  the 
undercurrent  of  the  sentiment  of  reconciliation  that  began 
to  pervade  the  thoughts  of  that  class  of  church  members, 
who  took  note  of  the  developments  and  the  influences  at 
work  in  both  divisions  of  the  church.  The  wish  for  a 
reunion  thus  had  its  origin,  but  that  wish  became  a  long- 
ing desire,  so  earnest  and  effective  as,  at  length,  to  accom- 
plish the  hoped  for  end.  The  influence  of  fervent  prayer 
and  kindly  sentiment  reached  both  assemblies,  and  fra- 
ternal letters  were  interchanged,  and  when  opportunity 
served  they  celebrated  together  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Preparing  for  Reunion. — For  several  years  previous  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  certain  causes  and  their 
influence  were  evidently  preparing  the  way  for  a  reunion. 
Perhaps  the  more  striking  of  these  were  the  contrasts  in 
conducting  missions — foreign  and  home.  The  Old  School 
stood  upon  an  independent  basis,  having  all  the  appliances 
for  the  work,  and  these  had  been  utilized  to  advantage 
ever  since  the  division.  The  New  School,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  not  so  happy  in  effective  work;  it  had  no  mis- 


THE    REUNION.  48 1 

&ion  fields  of  its  own,  and  was  unable  to  act  independently, 
since  it  was  hampered  by  being  in  connection  with  the 
voluntary  societies.  The  association  with  the  American 
Board  was  comparatively  pleasant,  but  even  in  that  was 
more  or  less  friction.  The  troubles  with  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  liad  given  those  Presbyterians  an  earnest 
of  the  difficulties  of  conducting  that  particular  phase  of 
missions  on  the  voluntary  plan.  These  hindrances  had 
taken  a  more  decided  form  ever  since  the  Albany  Congre- 
gational Convention  had  in  1852  repudiated  the  plan  of 
union,  thereby  manifesting  a  desire  to  discontinue  the 
custom  of  conducting  home  missions  in  connection  with 
the  New-School  body.  This  convention  "brought  Con- 
gregationalists  East  and  West  into  a  friendly  acquaint- 
ance and  sympathy,  which  had  been  lacking  before.'^  It 
resolved  to  discontinue  the  plan  of  union,  giving  as  one 
reason  for  so  doing,  that  "it  had  resulted  in  Presbyterian- 
Izing  hundreds  of  churches,  out  of  New  England,  which 
might  otherwise  have  been — and  which  in  right  should 
have  been — Congregational."  (Congregationalism,  by 
Dexter,  p.  516.)  Among  others,  a  similar  reason — only 
the  very  reverse  in  substance — was  given  when  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  1837  abrogated  the  same  plan  {p. 
4^6) — namely,  that  Presbyterian  churches  were  often 
Congregationalized  by  means  of  the  plan  of  union.  This 
and  similar  measures  induced  the  true  Presbyterians — 
those  who  accepted  the  theology  of  their  standards  and 
their  church  polity — and  who  were  thus  situated,  to  cher- 
isn  their  desire  of  union  with  the  other  branch.  Technical 
theological  questions  of  former  days  were  held  in  abey- 
ance or  deemed  settled,  while  the  differences  that  once 
loomed  as  very  important,  had  now  become  non-essential 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  once  were  their  most  strenuous 
advocates. 

The  Civil  War. — While  these  Presbyterians  were  in 


482  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

this  State  of  agitation  came  the  Civil  War.  The  exciting 
events  connected  with  it  drew  aside  the  attention  of  the 
church  members  from  the  situation  of  the  two  branches, 
but  toward  its  close  we  find  the  interest  in  reunion  re- 
ceived a  new  impulse.  This  interest  was  indicated  in  the 
numerous  letters  that  passed  back  and  forth  among  the 
intelligent  Presbyterians  of  both  parties,  who  were  in 
touch  with  the  movements  of  the  times — secular  and  re- 
ligious. The  matter  was  often  a  subject  of  prayer  in 
church  meetings,  and  was  often  alluded  to  in  the  religious 
papers,  and  sometimes  discussed  at  length.  These  inci- 
dents prepared  the  minds  of  the  church  members  of  both 
branches  to  hail  with  joy  the  movements  toward  a  re- 
union, for  which  so  many  were  praying. 

The  unanimity  with  which  the  private  members,  with 
the  elders  and  ministers  of  both  branches,  supported  the 
National  government  in  its  efforts  to  maintain  the  Union 
intact,  drew  the  parties  together  in  sympathetic  patriotism 
and  from  that  standpoint  the  transition  was  easy  for  them 
to  be  drawn  to  still  closer  unity  in  church  bonds,  under 
one  name  and  constitution. 

Renezved  Difficulties. — For  a  year  or  two  after  the  close 
of  the  war  the  New-School  brethren  had  difficulties  simi- 
lar to  those  which  they  had  immediately  preceding  that 
event.  In  addition,  that  body  was  weakened  by  the  with- 
drawal of  some  of  its  members,  who  took  sides  in  theory 
at  least  with  the  Confederates,  but  in  proportion  this 
number  was  far  inferior  to  that  which  withdrew  for  the 
same  reason  from  the  Old  School.  The  New  School, 
notwithstanding  the  excellent  standing  of  its  preachers 
and  pastors  and  high  scholarship  of  its  professors,  was 
relegated  more  than  ever  to  a  subordinate  position  in  the 
management  of  the  voluntary  societies.  The  Congrega- 
tionalists  in  exercising  their  inherent  right  were  mean- 
while becoming  more  decidedly  denominational  in  their 


THE    REUNION.  483 

proceedings,  especially  in  relation  to  the  control  of  the 
Home  Missionary  Society,  which  had  virtually  become 
their  recognized  organ,  rather  than  that  of  the  combina- 
tion of  the  New-School  Presbyterians  and  themselves. 

The  Cry  for  Help. — As  soon  as  the  Rebellion  collapsed 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  now  untrammeled,  took  note  of 
the  spiritual  desolations  of  the  country  caused  by  the  de- 
moralizing influence  of  that  dismal  war.  In  addition  to 
the  wants  of  the  feeble  churches  on  the  frontiers  came  the 
freedmen  crying  for  help,  and  thus  presenting  a  new 
field  for  domestic  missionary  enterprise,  and  to  that  sphere 
of  usefulness  the  Northern  Presbyterians  were  instinct- 
ively drawn.  These  peculiar  and  new  circumstances  sug- 
gested numerous  reasons  for  the  union  of  the  branches  of 
the  church,  that  thus  united  they  might  pursue  their  ap- 
propriate work  with  redoubled  energy,  stimulated  by  a 
sense  of  Christian  duty  and  the  cheering  hope  of  success. 

The  Committees  on  Reunion — The  Basis. — The  move- 
ment for  reunion  took  a  preliminary  form  in  1864  when  a 
correspondence  on  the  subject  commenced  and  fraternal 
letters  were  exchanged;  in  1866  both  parties  conjointly 
appointed  a  committee,  which  reported  progress  in 
1867.  The  movement  continued  until  1868,  when  both 
the  assemblies  united  in  appointing  a  Committee  of  Con- 
ference on  the  reunion  of  the  two  branches,  which  was  to 
report  to  the  assemblies  of  the  next  year.  This  action 
was  only  the  exponent  of  the  desire  for  reunion  that  had 
grown  up  in  the  hearts  of  the  great  mass  of  the  church 
members  of  both  branches.  The  question  had  penetrated 
their  inner  life,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  prayers  that  they 
offered  to  the  Master  to  bring  about  the  reunion. 

The  two  assemblies,  the  Old  and  the  New  School,  met 
in  New  York  City  in  May,  1869;  the  former  in  the  Brick 
Church  and  the  latter  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant.  The 
Committee  of  Conference  appointed  the  previous  year 


484  A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

reported  as  follows:  that  it  "shall  be  reunited  as  one 
Church  under  the  name  and  style  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America."  .  .  .  "The 
reunion  shall  be  effected  on  the  doctrinal  and  ecclesi- 
astical basis  of  our  common  standards;  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments  shall  be  acknowledged 
to  be  the  inspired  word  of  God  and  the  only  infallible 
rule  of  faith  and  practice;  the  Confession  of  Faith  shall 
continue  to  be  sincerely  received  and  adopted  as  contain- 
ing tlie  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures; 
and  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  shall  be  approved  as  contain- 
ing the  principles  and  rules  of  our  polity." 

The  assemblies  were  to  submit  to  their  respective  pres- 
byteries the  Basis  of  Reunion;  the  latter  were  required  to 
meet  on  or  before  Oct.  15,  1869,  to  express  their  ap- 
proval or  disapproval,  etc.  Each  presbytery  was  to  trans- 
mit to  the  stated  clerk  of  its  assembly  the  result  by  the 
first  day  of  November,  1869. 

Statistics. — According  to  the  minutes  of  1869  the  Old 
School  had  one  hundred  and  forty-three  presbyteries,  two 
thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-one  ministers,  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-nine  churches,  and 
two  hundred  and  fifty-eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
three  communicants;  the  New  School  had  one  hundred 
and  eight  presbyteries,  sixteen  hundred  and  ninety-four 
ministers,  fourteen  hundred  and  seventy-nine  churches, 
and  one  hundred  and  forty-three  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-five  communicants. 

The  above  numbers  give  in  the  aggregate  the  whole 
membership,  at  that  time,  of  the  united  church,  but  as  the 
synods  and  presbyteries  of  the  two  branches  occupied  the 
same  territory  and  often  overlapped  one  another,  com- 
mittees were  appointed  by  the  assembly  of  1870  to  adjust 
that  difificulty.     The  several  adjustments  thus  made,  of 


THE    REUNION.  485 

necessity,  diminished  the  number  of  the  synods  and  also 
that  of  the  presbyteries  by  blending  them  together.  The 
report  of  these  arrangements  was  made  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  1871.  According  to  the  minutes  of  that  year 
we  find  that  the  number  of  synods  was  thirty-five  and 
of  presbyteries  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven;  ministers, 
four  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty-six;  churches, 
four  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixteen;  comimunicants, 
four  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  three  hundred  and 
seventy-eight;  admitted  on  examination,  twenty-seven 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy.  The  union  was 
thus  completed. 

Woman's  Work. — The  assemblies  of  1872  and  1873 
were  marked  by  no  special  measures ;  the  machinery  of  the 
church  being  in  perfect  order  its  work  prospered.  The 
admissions  to  the  church  on  examination  during  these 
two  years  were  55,456.  The  assembly  of  1874  highly  com- 
mended the"  Woman's  Missionary  Associations,"  which  had 
been  formed  within  recent  years,  for  their  raising  funds 
and  promoting  the  cause,  closing  as  follows :  "There  will 
be  no  watchword  rallying  a  mightier  force  in  all  the  land 
than  that  of  "woman's  work  for  zvoiiian  through  the 
whole  world/'  This  is,  if  we  mistake  not,  the  first  notice 
given  by  the  assembly  of  the  movement  thus  auspiciously 
begun  by  Presbyterian  women,  and  which  thus  inaugur- 
ated that  very  important  phase  of  missionary  effort.  In 
this  connection  it  is  worthy  of  mention  that  the  "Nar- 
rative" of  the  assembly  of  1877  ^^^o  uses  the  following 
language  in  allusion  to  "women's  work."  "The  daugh- 
ters, wives,  and  mothers  of  happy  Christian  homes  are 
combining,  all  over  the  church,  to  give  Christ  and  his 
love  to  all  within  their  reach,  and  especially  to  the  daugh- 
ters of  sorrow  and  of  heathenism.  ,  .  .  We  rejoice 
in  their  good  works  and  bid  them  God  speed." 

Proffered  Fraternity — Sabbath  Respected. — The  Gen- 


486  A    HISTORY    OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

eral  Assembly  of  1875  received  the  report  of  a  committee 
appointed  the  previous  year  to  confer  with  a  similar  one 
from  the  "Assembly  South."  The  design  was  "to  secure 
closer  fraternal  relations  between  the  two  bodies."  The 
committees  met  and  discussed  the  subject  very  carefully. 
The  report,  after  giving  a  summary  of  the  discussions 
thus  held,  concludes  in  the  following  terms :  "Your  com- 
mittee regrets  that  they  were  disappointed  in  their  own 
personal  desire  as  well  as  that  of  the  whole  church,  which 
they  represent,  to  establish  fraternal  relations  with  the 
Assembly  South  on  terms  of  mutual  confidence  and  re- 
spect. Christian  honor  and  love."  The  report  was  ac- 
cepted and  the  action  of  the  commitee  approved. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1876,  that  being  the  year  of 
the  Centennial  Exposition,  expressed  its  sentiments  on  the 
subject  of  the  latter  being  closed  on  the  Sabbath,  saying 
in  a  resolution:  "Recognizing  the  constant  and  bountiful 
goodness  of  God  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  during 
the  first  century  of  the  National  Independence,  record  with 
satisfaction  the  fact  that  the  commissioners  having  the  ex- 
hibition in  charge  have  decided  by  an  emphatic  vote  to 
close  its  gates  on  the  Lord's  day." 

Synods  Consolidated — The  Discipline  Revised. — The 
synods  had  so  much  increased  that  in  numbers  they  ranged 
from  six  down  to  two  in  a  single  State.  This  increase 
was  a  matter  of  convenience  in  order  to  obviate  the  diffi- 
culties arising  from  the  distance  to  be  traveled  by  the 
delegates,  since  all  the  ministers  and  commissioned  elders 
within  their  respective  bounds  were  to  meet  in  the  synod 
in  the  same  ratio  as  in  the  presbyteries.  In  response  to 
overtures  the  General  Assembly  of  188 1  took  action  on  the 
subject,  and  passed  an  enabling  act,  directing  the  several 
synods  in  their  respective  States  to  be  consolidated  into 
one  and  bounded  by  the  State  lines.  The  synod  was  also 
made  a  representative  body.    The  presbyteries  took  action 


THE    REUNION.  487 

promptly,  as  was  enjoined  by  the  assembly;  the  result 
appeared  in  the  minutes  of  1882,  in  which  the  number  of 
synods  reported  was  twenty-three,  instead  of  thirty-eight 
in  those  of  the  previous  year. 

The  subject  of  revision  of  the  Book  had  been  before 
two  or  three  assemblies,  and  the  report  as  to  the  action 
of  the  presbyteries  upon  the  same  having  been  adopted, 
the  moderator  of  the  assembly  of  1884  formally  an- 
nounced that  "The  Revised  Book  of  Discipline  with  the 
Revision  of  Chapter  X.  of  the  Form  of  Government,  had 
been  adopted,  and  were  now  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  Church." 

Statistics  of  Spiritual  Progress. — We  may  obtain  a  par- 
tial glimpse  of  the  spiritual  progress  of  the  church  for  the 
time  being  by  comparing  four  items  in  its  history,  say, 
for  a  period  of  ten  years,  namely,  the  increase  of  the 
number  of  communicants,  and  that  of  the  admissions  on 
examination;  the  attendance  of  Sunday-school  scholars, 
and  the  amount  of  contributions.  For  illustration,  the 
number  of  communicants,  according  to  the  minutes  of  the 
assembly  of  1876,  was  535,210,  and  in  the  same  of  1886 
it  was  661,809. 

The  minutes  of  1876  also  show  that  during  the  pre- 
vious year  were  admitted  on  examination  48,240,  which 
number  in  the  latter  year  began  to  diminish  gradually  till 
it  became  only  20,196  in  1878,  as  recorded  in  the  minutes 
of  1879,  in  which  year  the  number  commenced  to  in- 
crease, and  thus  continued  till  it  reached  51,177  in  1886. 
It  is  proper  to  note  that  during  this  period  were  held  the 
Centennial  Exposition,  and  also  two  Presidential  elec- 
tions. The  interest  taken  in  these  two  subjects,  no  doubt, 
interfered  with  the  spiritual  progress  of  the  church  mem- 
bers, and  also  allured  the  attention  of  the  non-Christians 
from  religious  impressions.  Again,  a  restful  change  came 
over  the  minds  of  the  American  people,  when  the  long- 


488  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

continued  anxiety  and  discussions  in  respect  to  financial 
affairs  virtually  came  to  an  end  on  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments  on  the  first  day  of  1879 — was  not  this 
disturbed  state  of  mind  to  a  certain  extent  a  hindrance  to 
the  reception  of  religious  impressions?  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  fact  remains  that  the  admissions  to  the  church 
from  the  world  on  examination  during  the  following 
ecclesiastical  year  exceeded  those  of  the  previous  one  by 
nearly  7000. 

On  a  similar  line  of  illustration  it  is  worthy  of  notice 
that  during  these  ten  years  the  increase  in  the  attendance 
of  Sunday-school  scholars  seemed  to  be  unaffected,  but 
was  very  uniform.  In  1876  the  attendance  was  555,347, 
and  in  1886  it  was  743,518.  In  about  the  same  ratio  are  the 
total  contributions  of  the  church  in  sustaining  its  various 
operations.  In  1876  they  were  $9,810,223,  in  1886  $10,- 
502,331.  These  sums  include  all  the  benevolences  of  the 
church  and  congregational  expenses.  The  progress  of 
domestic  and  foreign  missions  and  the  number  of  mis- 
sionaries employed  increased  in  about  the  same  ratio.  It 
is  not  expedient  in  this  connection  to  go  into  detail,  and 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  usual  reports  on  the  latter 
subjects. 

Thus  in  the  absence  of  more  definite  data  we  obtain  a 
partial  conception  of  the  inner  Christian  life  of  the  church 
members.  This  life  is  often  modified  adversely  by  certain 
conditions,  such  as  financial  and  industrial  troubles  and 
political  agitation,  and  it  behooves  all,  especially  Christians, 
for  more  is  expected  of  them,  to  labor  in  such  manner  as 
to  remedy  that  class  of  evils,  which  under  our  govern- 
ment can  be  done  by  honest  and  intelligent  voting.  In  this 
respect  the  Christian  must  not  shirk  his  duty  as  a  citizen, 
for  in  proportion  to  his  influence  in  his  own  immediate 
community  he  is  as  responsible  for  the  performance  of 
such  duty  as  the  highest  official  in  the  land. 


THE    REUNION.  489 

The  Presbyterian  Centennial. — The  General  Assembly 
of  1886  at  Minneapolis  appointed  a  committee  of  arrange- 
ments for  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  organization 
of  the  first  General  Assembly,  that  of  1788.  By  resolu- 
tion the  churches,  the  presbyteries,  and  the  synods  were 
enjoined  to  collect  facts  of  their  respective  histories, 
which  were  to  be  ready  by  the  autumn  meetings  of  the 
presbyteries  and  synods.  They  were  to  forward  these 
historical  publications  "two  copies  to  the  stated  clerk  of 
the  General  Assembly,  and  to  the  Presbyterian  Historical 
Society,  respectively."  Each  of  the  boards  of  the  church 
were  directed  to  prepare  a  brief  account  of  their  "History 
and  Outlook,^'  and  also  during  the  years  1887-8,  special 
contributions  were  to  be  made  for  the  work  of  the  church, 
as  specified. 

In  addition,  a  fraternal  letter  was  written  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  then  in 
session  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  most  cordially  inviting  their 
branch  to  unite  with  the  Northern,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1888, 
celebrating  the  centennial  anniversary  "of  the  organization 
of  the  General  Assembly  at  Philadelphia  in  1788  {see  p. 
202).  A  committee  was  also  appointed  to  arrange  the 
method  and  plan  of  such  cooperation."  Favorable  re- 
plies having  been  received  from  the  Southern  Church,  the 
assembly  of  1887  took  measures  to  have  a  programme  of 
the  celebration  prepared,  in  which  the  subjects  of  the 
orations  and  the  speakers  of  the  same  were  mutually 
agreed  upon  and  equally  divided. 

According  to  the  programme  laid  down  by  the  con- 
ference committees  addresses  appropriate  to  the  occasion 
were  made  on  May  24th  by  delegates  from  the  Southern 
and  the  Northern  branches  of  the  church.  These  ad- 
dresses were  comprehensive  in  their  scope,  taking  in  the 
numerous  phases  of  the  great  subject  in  hand.  We  have 
not  room  for  even  the  headings  of  the  topics  discussed  by 
33 


49°         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

the  many  speakers.  The  spirit  of  piety  and  a  patriotism 
molded  by  Christian  principles,  that  pervaded  these  ad- 
dresses, cheered  the  hearts  of  those  who  heard  them,  and 
when  published,  their  beneficent  influence  was  recog- 
nized throughout  the  church.  The  display  of  genuine 
learning  in  treating  these  various  subjects  was  grand,  and 
may  be  taken  as  an  indication  of  the  scholarship  and  the 
training  of  the  speakers,  ministers  as  well  as  laymen.  The 
Presbyterian  polity  stimulates  intelligent  Christian  lay- 
men to  take  an  interest,  and  even  diligently  study  the 
workings  of  the  system,  inasmuch  as  they  are  often  called 
upon  as  representatives  of  the  church  members,  to  have  a 
share  in  the  discussions  and  actions  of  all  the  boards  and 
the  judicatures  of  the  church. 

Church  Periodical — Seminaries. — The  assembly  of 
1888,  adopting  the  suggestions  of  the  committee  who  had 
the  matter  in  charge,  established  the  magazine  The 
Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,  which  was  intended  to  sup- 
ersede the  other  church  periodicals,  and  of  itself  represent 
all  the  boards  of  the  assembly. 

This  assembly,  also,  through  its  standing  committee  ex- 
pressed itself  as  "glad  to  see  that  our  seminaries,  as  espe- 
cially shown  by  the  reports  of  Princeton  and  Union,  employ 
their  students  in  active  work  in  Sunday-schools  and 
among  the  poor  and  neglected.  Such  practical  engage- 
ment of  time  and  effort  must  contribute  largely  toward  a 
preparation  for  successful  labor  and  properly  balance 
the  retirement  of  the  class-room  and  cloister,"  or  private 
study. 

As  an  evidence  of  progress  it  was  reported  to  the  as- 
sembly of  1889  that  the  gifts  of  the  church  members  for 
the  support  and  spread  of  the  gospel  during  a  period  of 
ten  years,  advanced  from  an  average  of  $  14-37  P^'''  "^^m- 
ber  in  1879  to  $17.75  in  1889— a  gain  of  $3.38  per  mem- 
ber or  23.5  per  cent.     Meantime  "the  purely  benevolent 


THE    REUNION.  49 1 

contributions  to  our  boards  and  like  agencies  of  evan- 
gelism," have  advanced  from  $3.39  per  member  in  1879 
to  $5.56  in  1889,  a  gain  of  $2.17  per  member  or  64  per 
cent." 

Revision  Desired. — The  committee  on  methods  of  ef- 
fecting revisions  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Church,  that  was  appointed  by  the  as- 
sembly of  1887,  and  continued  by  the  assemblies  of  1888 
and  1889,  was  now  enlarged  in  1890  and  continued.  The 
assembly  of  1889  had  sent  down  to  the  presbyteries  an 
overture  in  the  words:  First:  "Do  you  desire  a  revision 
of  the  Confession  of  Faith?"  The  answer  was  yes  by 
134  presbyteries  out  of  213.  Second:  "If  so,  in  what  re- 
spects, and  to  what  extent?"  The  answer  to  the  latter 
question  opened  up  a  wide  range  for  discussion.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  differences  of  opinion  on  the  subject 
expressed  by  the  presbyteries,  the  assembly  deemed  it  ex- 
pedient to  appoint  a  committee  on  revision  of  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith.  This  committee  consisted  of  Hfteen  min- 
isters and  ten  elders.  It  was  enjoined  to  consider  the 
answers  to  questions  number  tzvo,  and  "formulate  and 
report  to  the  assembly  of  1891,  such  alterations  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith  as  in  their  judgment  may  be  deemed 
desirable."  This  committee  was  unable  to  make  a  full 
report  to  the  assembly  of  1891,  which  met  in  Detroit,  and 
it,  also,  was  continued. 

The  assembly  of  1892  met  in  May  of  that  year  at  Port- 
land, Oregon.  It  adopted  an  official  seal,  and  for  a  de- 
vice "an  open  Bible  upon  a  circular  field." 

This  assembly  took  note  of  the  disposition  of  the 
amounts  of  money  paid  by  Congress  to  Roman  Catholic 
schools  for  Indians.  The  latter,  alone,  having  obtained 
in  round  numbers  400,000  dollars  of  the  600,000  appro- 
priated for  all  the  denominations  combined  {Minutes,  p. 
45).    It  also  condemned  the  principle  of  the  general  gov- 


492         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

ernment  appropriating  money  to  sectarian  schools.  It 
manifested  much  interest  in  the  home  missions  pertaining 
to  the  mountaineers  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  North 
CaroHna,  and  the  two  Virginias.  The  committee  on  the 
Confession  of  Faith  reported  progress. 


Rev.  Edward  Robinson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

(493-497-) 


Presbyterian  Worthies. 

Professor  ^Edward  Robinson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  son  of  Rev. 
William  Robinson,  was  born  in  Southington,  Connecticut, 
April  lo,  1794,  of  Puritan  ancestry,  which  in  church  af- 
fairs is  traced  back  to  1636.  His  mother,  Elizabeth  Nor- 
ton, a  lady  of  fine  education,  was  a  sister  of  Professor 
Seth  Norton  of  Hamilton  College.  On  her  dying  bed 
she  sent  to  her  son  Edward,  who  was  absent,  a  charac- 
teristic message,  urging  him  "to  do  as  much  good  as  he 
could  in  the  world."  His  father  was  under  the  necessity 
of  cultivating  a  farm,  and  during  his  boyhood  Edward 
thus  worked,  and  also  for  a  while  in  a  country  store.  In 
school  he  ranked  high  as  a  scholar,  a  devourer  of  books 
and  of  untiring  industry  in  search  of  knowledge,  mani- 
festing in  his  boyhood  characteristics  for  which  he  was 
afterward  noted,  sound  moral  principles,  kindly  disposi- 
tion, cautiousness  in  his  decisions  and  accuracy  in  his 
studies.  We  give  an  incident.  When  a  boy  away  from 
home  at  school,  great  excitement  arose  because  of  the 
appearance  of  smallpox  in  the  neighborhood ;  Edward  ob- 
tained some  of  the  virus  of  cow-pox,  took  it  home,  and 
successfully  vaccinated  the  whole  family. 

We  find  him  at  the  age  of  eighteen  in  the  Freshman 
class  in  Hamilton  College,  where  he  soon  took  position 
at  the  head  of  his  class  in  every  branch  of  study.  Gradu- 
ating in  four  years,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  in 
1817,  but  soon  gave  that  up  to  accept  a  more  congenial 
work  of  tutor  in  mathematics  and  Greek  in  Hamilton 


494  A    HISTORY     OF    THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

College.  Three  years  later,  in  1 821,  he  went  to  Andover, 
Mass.,  to  superintend  the  publication  of  his  first  book, 
an  edition  of  eleven  books  of  the  "Iliad."  Here  under 
the  influence  of  Professor  Moses  Stuart  he  commenced 
the  study  of  Hebrew  in  which  his  progress  was  so  rapid 
that  in  less  than  a  year  and  a  half  he  was  appointed  in- 
structor in  Hebrew  in  the  seminary,  which  position  he 
filled  for  three  years  with  great  acceptance.  During  this 
period  he  studied  theology  and  was  licensed  to  preach, 
but  afterward  preferred  to  devote  himself  to  sacred  schol- 
arship. Resigning  his  position  in  the  seminary  he  sailed 
for  Europe  in  order  to  perfect  himself  in  his  chosen 
studies.  He  spent  nearly  three  years  at  Halle  and  Berlin 
in  assiduous  study.  He  had  the  privilege  of  numbering 
among  his  intimate  friends  eminent  professors  in  these 
universities,  such  as  Gesenius,  Tholuck,  and  Roediger  in 
Halle,  and  Ritter  and  Neander  in  Berlin.  In  1828  he 
married  Miss  Therese  Albertine  Louise  von  Jacob,  daugh- 
ter of  Professor  von  Jacob  of  the  University  of  Halle. 
This  lady  already  held  a  high  position  in  the  literary 
world  of  Germany  because  of  her  original  writings  and 
translations,  especially  of  "Servian  Popular  Songs."  In 
1829  Dr.  Robinson  returned  to  the  United  States,  and 
soon  after  was  appointed  Professor  Extraordinary  of 
Sacred  Literature  at  Andover. 

We  will  anticipate,  somewhat,  in  the  order  of  time.  Dr. 
Robinson  published  a  number  of  books  in  his  line  of 
study,  whose  titles  we  need  not  give.  Of  these  the  most 
important  in  their  influence  were  the  translation  of  the 
"Hebrew  Latin  Lexicon"  of  Gesenius,  and  his  own  Greek 
"Lexicon  of  the  New  Testament."  The  former  in  a 
number  of  revised  editions,  the  last  in  1854,  and  the  latter 
in  1850.  The  one  was  a  boon  to  the  students  of  Hebrew, 
and  gave  an  increased  impulse  to  that  study  in  the  theo- 
logical seminaries  of  different  Protestant  denominations 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES.  495 

in  the  Union;  while  the  other  was  equally  influential  in 
promoting  the  study  of  New  Testament  Greek.  Mean- 
while he  published  a  "Greek  Harmony  of  the  Gospels," 
and  also  established  the  "Biblical  Repository"  in  1831, 
and  afterward,  in  1843,  the  "Bibliotheca  Sacra."  He  him- 
self, at  first,  writing  a  majorhy  of  the  articles. 

Dr.  Robinson's  theory  was  that,  in  order  to  obtain  viv- 
idly the  precise  meaning  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  they 
must  be  studied  in  the  tongues  in  which  they  were  origin- 
ally written.  To  do  this  properly  required  the  knowledge 
and  appreciation  of  the  surroundings,  natural  and  his- 
torical, amid  which  their  authors  wrote.  His  strong  de- 
sire, therefore,  was  to  raise  the  standard  of  Biblical  learn- 
ing to  as  high  a  grade  as  possible.  As  a  teacher  he  was 
strenuous  in  having  the  lessons  prepared  carefully;  to 
shirk  such  preparation  was  in  his  eyes  not  a  venial  offense. 
When  a  boy  he  chided  a  younger  brother,  who  was  idling 
at  his  study,  with  the  remark :  "That  the  loss  of  a  min- 
ute is  just  so  much  loss  of  life,"  In  recitations,  he  never 
took  his  class  in  regular  order,  but  skipped  here  and 
there,  and  if  any  one  asked  to  be  excused  for  not  being 
prepared  he  was  sure  to  be  called  upon  next  day,  and  if 
he  then  made  it  evident  that  he  had  neglected  his  duty, 
he  was  quietly  called  upon  at  the  the  next  recitation,  and 
so  on  till  he  gave  evidence  that  he  had  prepared  himself 
properly. 

After  declining  professorships  elsewhere.  Dr.  Robin- 
son accepted  in  1837  that  of  Biblical  Literature  in  Union 
Theological  Seminary  in  New  York  City,  then  recently 
founded.  This  acceptance  was  with  the  understanding 
that  after  delivering  a  preliminary  course  of  lectures  he 
should  have  leave  of  absence  to  visit  Palestine,  in  order, 
as  he  expressed  it,  "To  collect  materials  for  a  systematic 
work  on  the  physical  and  historical  geography  of  the 
Holy  Land."    The  results  of  these  labors  were  published 


496         A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

under  the  title,  "Biblical  Researches."  They  at  once  were 
accepted  as  a  standard  authority,  and  as  such  were  quoted 
by  French,  German,  American,  and  English  authors;  of 
the  last,  Dean  Stanley  is  the  most  prominent.  The  dean 
in  his  work  on  "Sinai,"  says  that  he  found  only  two  state- 
ments in  the  "Researches"  which  subsequent  investiga- 
tion proved  to  be  somewhat  inaccurate. 

The  first  edition  was  published  simultaneously  in  Bos- 
ton, London,  and  Halle  in  1841 — Mrs.  Robinson  having 
translated  the  work  into  German  as  its  writing  was  fin- 
ished. In  1852  Dr.  Robinson  revisited  Palestine,  and 
was  thus  enabled  to  bring  out  a  revised  edition  in  1856. 
The  publication  of  the  "Biblical  Researches"  took  the  in- 
telligent religious  world  by  surprise,  and  directed  the  at- 
tention of  Biblical  scholars  to  the  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  also  enlisted  in  the  same  cause  numbers  of  well 
read  Christian  laymen.  The  "Biblical  Researches"  had 
influence  in  suggesting  the  formation  of  three  associa- 
tions for  the  purpose  of  exploring  Palestine — one  in  Eng- 
land, one  in  Germany,  and  one  in  the  United  States — the 
expenses  are  borne  by  the  subscriptions  of  those  inter- 
ested in  the  cause.  These  associations — except  the 
American — are  still  (1899)  engaged  in  the  work,  which 
has  already  thrown  so  much  light  on  portions  of  the  Bible 
in  the  identification  of  the  sites  of  places  mentioned,  as 
well  as  on  the  general  topography  of  the  Holy  Land, 
Says  an  eminent  writer:  "Edward  Robinson  created  out 
of  nothing  the  study  of  Biblical  geography."  More  work 
has  been  done  in  Biblical  history  since  1835  than  in  all 
the  previous  centuries  combined."  (Study  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, p.  508.) 

The  manifold  benefits  conferred  upon  the  church  at 
large,  and  especially  upon  the  Presbyterian  branch,  by 
Dr.  Robinson,  were  in  two  forms  of  influence — the  one  by 
means  of  his  lexicons,  giving  a  new  impulse  to  the  study 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES.  497 

of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in  their  original  tongues ; 
the  other,  by  his  Biblical  researches,  to  the  study  of  Bible 
history,  by  ascertaining  the  conditions  under  which  it 
was  written,  and  thus  aiding  in  the  elucidation  of  its 
truths,  historical  statements,  and  allusions. 

Incessant  labor  impaired  Dr.  Robinson's  strong  con- 
stitution. He  once  said  to  the  writer,  whose  privilege  it 
was  to  be  one  of  his  pupils,  "The  continual  pressure  of 
work  for  years  is  wearing  me  out."  On  January  2^,  1863, 
the  Master  called  him  home,  in  his  sixty-ninth  year. 

Rev.  Dr.  Philip  Lindsley  richly  deserves  mention 
among  the  worthies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  A  na- 
tive of  New  Jersey,  of  English  Presbyterian  ancestry, 
born  December  21,  1786;  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  1804; 
studied  theology,  meanwhile  engaged  in  teaching;  was 
licensed  to  preach  in  1810  by  the  presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick,  and  in  1817  was  ordained  sine  titulo  by  the 
same  authority.  His  unusually  fine  scholarship  and  aptness 
in  giving  instruction  were  recognized  and  appreciated 
by  his  first  being  appointed  tutor  in  his  Alma  Mater,  and 
then  promoted  to  the  Professorship  of  Languages  (1813), 
and  soon  after  elected  Vice-president  of  the  college;  a 
vacancy  having  occurred,  he  was  acting  President  for 
one  year  (1822). 

During  these  intervening  years  he  was  twice  elected  to 
the  Presidency  of  Transylvania  University,  Kentucky, 
and  also  virtually  to  that  of  the  University  of  Ohio  at 
Athens;  and  twice  to  that  of  Cumberland  College,  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  twice  elected  President  of 
Princeton,  and  refused  to  consider  overtures  in  respect 
to  the  Presidency  of  Dickinson  College. 

Dr.  Lindsley  declined  these  honorable  positions,  espe- 
cially the  Presidency  of  his  Abna  Mater,  that  he  might 
enter  upon  a  new  and  very  important  sphere  of  usefulness 
in  the  Southwest.     In  that   region,   unfortunately,   the 


498         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

conditions  in  respect  to  classical  and  the  higher  grades 
of  education  were  such  as  to  call  for  the  aid  of  a  man  of 
high  standing,  both  as  to  scholarship  and  to  experience 
as  an  instructor. 

At  this  point  (1823)  was  again  presented  the  claims  of 
Cumberland  College  as  an  important  center  of  influence 
— the  latter  phase  of  the  subject  induced  Dr.  Lindsley  to 
visit  the  city  of  Nashville.  After  surveying  the  field  he 
consented  to  enter  it  by  accepting  the  Presidency  of  Cum- 
berland College,  whose  corporate  name  was  changed  the 
following  year  to  Nashville  University. 

In  entering  upon  this  important  field  of  usefulness  Dr. 
Lindsley's  "purpose  was  to  build  up  a  great  university  that 
should  be  to  the  South  and  West  what  Harvard,  Yale, 
and  Princeton  were  to  the  North  and  East.  His  plans 
were  large,  his  conceptions  were  noble,  and  he  did  his  part 
to  realize  them — that  he  partially  failed  was  no  fault 
of  his."  We  cannot  in  this  connection  go  into 
detail,  only  to  state  that  the  promise  of  an  ample  endow- 
ment was  never  realized;  yet  notwithstanding  this  draw- 
back, Dr.  Lindsley  labored  on  assiduously,  and  under  the 
circumstances  accomplished  an  immense  amount  of  good 
on  the  line  of  a  generous  and  liberal  education,  whose 
benign  influence  is  felt  to-day  in  the  Southwest. 

Nashville  was  then  quite  a  center  of  Presbyterian  in- 
fluence. The  culture  and  refinement  of  its  leading  citizens 
were  proverbial,  numbers  of  whom  were  thrifty  merchants 
and  others  owned  plantations  further  South.  It  was  the 
capital  of  the  State,  and  was  also  noted  for  its  seminaries 
for  the  education  of  young  women. 

Dr.  Lindsley  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  college 
with  imposing  ceremonies  on  January  12,  1825.  His  bril- 
liant address  on  that  occasion  was  regarded  as  eminently 
replete  with  judicious  ideas  suitable  to  the  occasion  and 
to  the  educational  conditions  of  the  times  and  in  that  sec- 


PRESBYTERIAN   WORTHIES.  499 

tion  of  the  Union.  Here  for  twenty-five  years  his  great  in- 
fluence was  extended  by  means  of  his  numerous  addresses, 
and  his  well-trained  students  who  went  forth  from  year 
to  year.  The  members  of  the  scholarly  faculty  of  the  uni- 
versity were  of  his  own  choosing,  and  under  his  inspira- 
tion they  acted  in  sympathy  with  him  in  zealously  promot- 
ing the  cause  of  education  and  good  morals  among  the 
students.  Thus  in  that  region  was  given  an  impulse  to 
classical  learning  by  raising  its  standard,  and  also  to  that 
of  other  departments  of  knowledge.  In  due  time  these 
influences  reached  the  intelligent  and  the  younger  por- 
tions of  both  sexes  of  the  citizens  of  that  beautiful  city. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  church  when  in  session  in 
Philadelphia  in  1834  by  a  unanimous  vote  chose  Dr. 
Lindsley  its  moderator. 

Dr.  Lindsley  saw  just  cause  in  the  financial  troubles  to 
which  the  university  was  subjected  to  present  his  resig- 
nation as  its  President  in  October,  1850.  He  was  after- 
ward for  three  years  professor  of  "Ecclesiastical  Polity 
and  Biblical  Archaeology"  in  the  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary  at  New  Albany,  Indiana.  After  retiring  from 
the  latter  institution  "the  remaining  two  years  of  his  Hfe 
were  spent  chiefly  in  study,  devotion,  and  intercourse 
with  friends."  The  Master  called  him  home  suddenly 
on  May  23,  1855,  in  his  beloved  Nashville,  whither  he 
had  come  as  a  commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly. 

Rev.  Charles  Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  born  in  Philadel- 
phia, December  28,  1797;  graduate  of  Princeton,  1815; 
professor  of  Theology  in  Princeton  Seminary  in  1822. 
Author  of  "Commentaries  on  Romans,  Corinthians,  and 
Ephesians."  Founder  of  the  Princeton  Review,  through 
which  he  exerted  a  great  influence  for  good;  every  im- 
portant movement  in  the  religious  world  he  carefully  no- 
ticed and  fairly  criticized,  commending  cordially  when  he 
approved  and  condemning  conscientiously  when  he  did 


500  A  HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

not ;  but  by  no  means  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  always  giv- 
ing his  reasons  as  drawn  from  the  storehouse  of  his 
learning.  His  influence  over  his  students  was  almost  un- 
bounded. 

He  wrote  among  a  number  of  other  works  "A  Con- 
stitutional History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States,"  but  the  crowning  and  most  elaborately 
constructed  of  his  writings  is  his  "Systematic  Theology." 
The  latter,  the  outcome  of  more  than  a  half  century  of 
careful  study  and  teaching  in  the  class-room.  He  died 
June  19,  1878,  at  the  close  of  an  unbroken  professorship 
of  fifty-six  years. 

Rev.  William  Adams,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  born  in  Colchester, 
Connecticut,  in  1807;  ^  graduate  of  Yale,  1827,  and  of 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  1830.  His  father,  Dr. 
John  Adams,  was  principal  of  Phillips  Academy,  And- 
over, thus  his  youthful  surroundings  were  of  educated 
persons.  After  being  a  pastor,  elsewhere,  for  some  years, 
he  was  invited  to  New  York  City  in  1834  to  take  charge 
of  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Broome  street,  and  afterward 
in  1853  he  became  pastor  of  the  then  recently  formed 
church  on  Madison  Square,  where  at  this  writing  it  is 
a  power  for  usefulness  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Charles 
H.  Parkhurst. 

For  forty  years  he  was  a  most  efficient  pastor,  being 
reckoned  among  "the  foremost  preachers  of  his  time;" 
of  progressive  instincts,  he  was  an  earnest  advocate  of 
every  good  work;  broad  in  his  views,  he  took  an  interest 
in  the  afifairs  of  both  church  and  state.  In  1852  he  was 
moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  New  School 
branch,  and  afterward  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  re- 
union of  the  church  in  1870.  Innately  courteous,  he  took 
his  congregation  into  his  confidence,  and  always  treated 
them,  even  when  discussing  an  abstract  question,  as 
though  they  knew  as  much  as  himself,  and  he  was  merely 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES.  50 1 

reminding  them  of  the  different  phases  of  the  subject  in 
hand. 

He  was  chosen  President  of  Union  Seminary  in  New 
York,  and  also  appointed  to  the  chair  of  sacred  rhetoric 
in  that  institution  in  1873.  In  which  office  and  professor- 
ship, by  his  magnetism  and  sympathy  with  young  men, 
he  exerted  a  most  beneficent  influence  over  the  students, 
and  thus  indirectly  in  the  church.  Says  Professor  Ros- 
well  D.  Hitchcock:  "The  administration  of  Dr.  Adams 
came  upon  us  like  a  burst  of  sunshine.  .  .  ,  The 
whole  institution  was  toned  up.  Professors  and  students, 
equally  and  all,  felt  the  magnetism  of  his  courtly  and 
stimulating  presence.  On  all  public  occasions  he  was  our 
ornament  and  pride.  In  all  the  dry  details  of  our  daily, 
weekly,  and  monthly  routine  of  work  he  was  a  model 
of  punctuality,  precision,  and  thoroughness.  He  pos- 
sessed in  an  eminent  degree  what  I  will  venture  to  call  the 
institutional  instinct  and  habit.  Of  fifty  years  of  signal 
service,  the  last  seven  had  been  the  golden  autumn  of  his 
life."  The  Master  released  him  from  his  earthly  labors, 
August  31,  1880,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age. 
{The  Union  Theological  Seminary,  pp.  87,  88.) 

Rev.  Henry  Boynton  Smith,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  was  born  in 
Portland,  Maine,  in  1815;  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin  College, 
1834;  studied  theology  in  Andover,  Halle,  and  Berlin. 
Honored  in  Germany  as  a  man  of  superior  intellect  and 
scholarship.  While  pastor  in  the  vicinity  he  was  in- 
structor in  Hebrew  in  Andover  Seminary;  then  pro- 
fessor of  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy  in  Amherst  Col- 
lege; then,  1850,  of  Church  History,  in  Union  Seminary, 
and  afterward,  in  1853,  of  Systematic  Theology  in  the 
same  institution.  In  the  latter  professorship  he  re- 
mained till  his  resignation  because  of  impaired  health, 
January,  1874;  he  was,  however,  made  Professor  Emeri- 
tus, and  Lecturer  on  Apologetics. 


502  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  experience  and  knowledge 
derived,  personally,  in  giving  instruction  in  the  class  of 
subjects  pertaining,  respectively,  to  his  previous  profes- 
sorships, were  available  as  a  preparation  for  that  of  the- 
ology. He  was  the  author  of  several  monographs,  all  of 
which  related  to  history  in  its  moral  aspects,  as  applied  to 
church  matters  and  theology.  "The  historic  spirit  which 
characterized  him  has  ever  since  been  characteristic  of 
Union  Seminary."  Unfortunately,  his  impaired  health,  and, 
we  may  say,  premature  death,  precluded  a  consecutive  and 
perfect  summary  of  his  views  on  these  varied  and  impor- 
tant subjects,  as  molded  by  himself  into  a  uniform  system, 
He  has  been  characterized  "the  gifted,  learned,  and  in- 
spiring teacher,"  "he  had  brilliant  scholarship,  a  fervid 
and  deeply  spiritual  nature,  a  gentle  and  winning  dis- 
position." His  students  could  preach  the  theology  which 
they  learned  from  him.  The  theological  views  of  Pro- 
fessor H.  B.  Smith  are  more  quoted  with  approbation 
by  theologians  and  pastors  in  the  different  evangelical 
denominations  than  those  of  any  recent  theological  writer. 
Professor  Archibald  A.  Hodge  of  Princeton  "declared 
Professor  H.  B.  Smith  to  be  the  greatest  theologian  of 
the  American  Presbyterian  Church."  (Vol.  VI.,  Ch.  Hist., 
p.  130.)  He  was  released  from  his  earthly  labors  Feb- 
ruary, 1877,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age. 

Rev.  Robert  Jefferson  Breckinridge,  D.D.,  born  in  1800 
in  Kentucky ;  studied  and  practised  law  for  some  years. 
Meanwhile,  a  ruling  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
he  turned  his  attention  to  theology,  which  he  studied  pri- 
vately. Afterward,  for  thirteen  years  was  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Baltimore.  He  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  division  of  the  Church  in  1837. 
(See  pp.  3^4,  38/.)  President  of  Jefferson  College 
(1845-1847),  but  notwithstanding  his  great  mental  abil- 
ity, it  was  a  sphere  of  labor  for  which  he  was  not  perfectly 


Rf.v.   Henry  Boynton  Smith,   D.  D.,   LL.  D. 

(501,  502.) 


PRESBYTERIAN   WORTHIES.  503 

qualified,  simply  because  of  his  lack  of  experience  in 
teaching.  Then  Professor  of  Theology  in  Danville  Semi- 
nary (1853). 

Nearly  thirty  years  before  the  Civil  War,  when  it  re- 
quired sterling  courage  to  oppose  the  system  of  slavery 
in  his  native  State,  Dr.  Breckinridge  ever  stood  firm  in 
his  convictions  of  its  enormous  injustice  to  the  slave  and 
its  injurious  influence  on  the  slave-owner,  characterizing 
it  as  "utterly  indefensible  on  every  correct  human  prin- 
ciple, and  utterly  abhorrent  from  the  law  of  God," 

A  strong  Union  man  during  the  Civil  War,  he  exerted 
a  determined  and  commanding  influence  to  preserve  the 
integrity  of  the  Nation.  In  duty  bound,  he  took  an  in- 
tense interest  in  the  public  affairs  of  that  trying  period, 
especially  in  his  native  State.  He  was  an  influential 
member  of  the  Republican  Convention  which  nominated 
Mr.  Lincoln  for  a  second  term.  His  crowning  efforts  for 
good,  however,  were  made  after  the  close  of  the  Rebellion, 
when  he  became  a  most  energetic  and  efficient  advocate 
in  aiding  the  National  government  to  introduce  the  com- 
mon school  system  into  his  native  Kentucky,  which,  like 
the  other  slave-labor  States,  never  had  public  schools  simi- 
lar to  those  within  the  free-labor  States,  until  thus  estab- 
lished. 

Rev.  William  Greenough  Thayer  Shedd,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
was  born  in  Massachusetts,  1820;  a  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont  and  of  Andover  Seminary;  professor 
of  English  literature  in  his  Alma  Mater;  then  of  Rhetoric 
and  Pastoral  Theology  in  Auburn  Seminary;  then  of 
Ecclesiastical  History  in  Andover,  and  when  collegiate 
pastor  with  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  of  the  historic  Brick 
Church  in  New  York,  was  elected  in  1863  professor  of 
Biblical  Literature  in  Union  Seminary  of  that  city,  and 
afterward,  in  1874,  transferred  to  the  chair  of  Systematic 
Theology.     In  consequence  of  impaired  health  he  retired 


504  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

from  active  duty,  but  was  retained  by  the  directors  in  the 
service  of  the  institution  as  Professor  Emeritus.  His 
earthly  labors  were  finished  in  1894. 

Dr.  Shedd  was  the  author  of  a  number  of  valuable 
works,  one  of  which  was  very  important,  "The  History  of 
Christian  Doctrine,"  and  last  of  all,  "Systematic  The- 
ology." Says  a  writer:  "As  a  theologian,  Dr.  Shedd  is 
regarded  as  developing  the  sterner  elements  of  Calvinism 
more  fully  than  is  common  in  recent  years." 

Dr.  Shedd  was  a  Calvinist  of  the  extreme  type  and 
held  rigidly  at  all  points  to  that  system.  He  was  greatly 
admired  and  beloved  by  his  students,  his  high  character 
and  kindly  spirit  commanding  their  respect  and  esteem, 
and  his  clear-cut  logical  style  making  his  lectures  always 
intellectually  attractive,  but  the  majority  of  those  under 
his  instructions  found  themselves  unable  to  accept  all  his 
conclusions,  though  they  never  ceased  to  prize  the  valu- 
able philosophical  training  he  gave  them. 

Another  class  of  Presbyterian  worthies  deserve  a  pass- 
ing notice,  because  of  their  influence  on  the  inner  Chris- 
tian life  of  the  church.  They  are  termed  evangelists. 
Pastors  have  sometimes  resigned  their  charges  in  order 
to  engage  in  that  form  of  work  as  a  sphere  of  greater 
usefulness.  To  perform  that  class  of  duties  properly  re- 
quires in  those  who  thus  labor  special  qualifications ;  such 
as  fervid  piety,  a  marked  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures, 
that  on  the  occasion  they  may  promptly  and  aptly  apply 
their  truths  and  illustrations;  practical  wisdom  and  tact 
in  conducting  the  services,  especially  in  connection  with 
settled  pastors.  Their  efforts  are  often  confined  to  a 
single  church  or  neighborhood,  and  only  for  a  limited 
time.  One  drawback  occurs  to  these  efforts,  when  they 
are  not  supplemented  after  the  evangelist  has  departed 
by  the  continuous  exertions  of  the  church  members  them- 
selves, and  of  the  pastor.     The  labors  of  this  class  of 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES.  505 

ministers  are  very  often  blessed  in  a  remarkable  manner 
in  leading  sinners  to  the  Saviour,  and  in  stimulating 
Christian  professors  to  greater  zeal  for  the  salvation  of 
men. 

We  have  room  for  the  notice  of  only  one  of  this  class 
of  worthies.  Rev.  Daniel  Baker,  D.D.,  who  was  blessed 
with  a  pious  parentage,  which  very  likely  were  Puritan 
{see  p.  2^6),  was  born  in  Midway,  Georgia,  August  17, 
1 79 1.  An  entire  Puritan  congregation  in  1754  moved 
from  near  Charleston,  S.  C,  to  Midway.  He  became  a 
Christian  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  Dr.  Moses  Hoge  urged 
him  to  study  for  the  ministry.  He  entered  Hampden- 
Sidney  College  in  181 1,  but  afterward  went  to  Princeton, 
where  he  graduated  in  181 5.  When  he  first  entered  the 
latter  institution  only  six  of  his  fellow-students — about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  in  number — were  professing  Chris- 
tians; two  of  these  he  persuaded  to  join  him  in  a  daily 
prayer-meeting.  They  for  a  time  were  subjects  of  ridicule 
by  some  of  their  fellow-students,  but  ere  long  their  pray- 
ers were  answered,  and  a  gracious  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  came  in  such  power  that  in  a  revival  which  fol- 
lowed, about  fifty  of  the  students  were  brought  to  Christ ; 
tzvjenty  of  whom  were  afterward  preachers  of  the  gospel. 

Mr.  Baker  studied  theology  and  when  licensed,  began 
to  preach  with  great  fervor  and  with  corresponding  suc- 
cess in  securing  conversions  from  the  world.  Thus  he 
labored  for  three  or  four  years,  having  in  charge  two  con- 
gregations in  Virginia,  but  in  1822  he  was  installed  pastor 
of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Washington  City. 
Among  the  prominent  men  who  attended  his  church  were 
Presidents  John  Quincy  Adams  and  Andrew  Jackson; 
they  both  encouraged  and  cheered  the  young  clergyman 
with  many  marks  of  their  appreciation.  Great  pressure 
induced  him  to  remove  from  Washington  to  Savannah, 
Georgia,  and  become  pastor  of  an  independent  Presby- 
34 


5o6         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

terian  church  in  that  city.  Here  his  labors  were  marvel- 
ously  blessed,  his  congregation,  numbering  about  fifteen 
hundred,  appeared  to  enjoy  an  almost  continuous  revival. 
Dr.  Baker  has  been  characterized  as  a  "man  of  one  book — 
the  Bible;  one  idea,  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  one  occu- 
pation, the  proclamation  of  the  gospel."  Moved  by  the 
impression  that  it  was  his  duty  to  give  his  services  to  the 
church  at  large,  as  an  evangelist,  he  resigned  his  pastorate 
in  1826,  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  that  phase  of  Chris- 
tian work. 

Dr.  Baker  was  remarkably  judicious  in  his  treatment 
of  the  non-professors  as  well  of  the  professors  of  religion. 
Numerous  instances  are  recorded  of  his  tact  in  meeting 
questions  that  were  sometimes  put  to  him,  perhaps,  with 
a  tinge  of  irony.  Once  a  lady,  a  great  favorite  in  society, 
because  of  her  attractiveness  and  accomplishments, 
but  not  a  Christian,  tzvitted  him  with  being  partial  in 
holding  special  meetings  for  his  dear  members,  but  not, 
said  she,  for  us  poor  sinners.  He  promptly  answered, 
"Suppose  I  call  a  meeting  for  you  poor  sinners;  would 
you  come?"  "Yes  I  will,"  was  the  prompt  reply.  The 
following  Sabbath  he  announced  a  meeting  for  the  un- 
converted, alone.  Having  spent  in  prayer  the  forenoon 
of  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting,  what  was  his 
surprise  when  he  reached  the  lecture-room  to  find  it 
crowded !  The  outcome  was  many  conversions,  among 
whom  was  the  lady  who  spoke  to  him  on  the  subject. 
On  another  occasion,  when  making  an  appeal  for  mis- 
sions in  Texas,  one  man  in  his  presence  remarked,  "I 
can  give  five  dollars,  and  not  feel  it."  Dr.  Baker  said 
to  him :  "Suppose,  my  brother,  you  give  twenty  dollars 
and  feel  it.  Your  Saviour  felt  what  he  did  for  you." 
The  man  was  ever  after  a  liberal  giver. 

In  his  preaching  tours  he  traveled  extensively  in  the 
Northern  and  also  in  the  Western  States,  and  was  listened 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES.  507 

to  by  thousands  upon  thousands  in  the  churches  of  all 
evangelical  denominations,  and  his  labors  were  wonder  fully- 
blessed.  He  labored  specially  for  some  years  in  Ken- 
tucky and  in  Mississippi;  but  his  greatest  work  was  done 
within  the  recently  formed  republic  of  Texas;  thither  he 
went  in  1838,  and  therein  he  labored  to  the  end.  The 
peculiar  circumstances  under  which  that  republic  had 
originated  attracted  him  thither  as  a  very  important  field 
of  usefulness.  He  assisted  in  constituting  the  Presby- 
tery of  Brazos  (1840),  the  first  in  that  region,  and  before 
Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States. 

This  presbytery,  in  the  line  of  its  traditions,  resolved  to 
found  a  college  that  should  be  under  Presbyterian  in- 
fluence. It  imposed  upon  Dr.  Baker  the  labor  of  obtain- 
ing funds  for  that  purpose,  and  the  result  was  the  found- 
ing of  the  present  flourishing  institution  known  as  Austin 
College.  He  made  six  separate  tours  in  portions  of  the 
Southern  and  of  Northern  States,  appealing  principally 
to  Presbyterians  for  funds,  but  preaching  whenever  he 
had  an  opportunity.  It  is  estimated  that  on  his  last  tour 
which  extended  for  eight  months,  sez'en  hundred  persons 
were  led  to  accept  the  Saviour;  their  first  convictions 
being  induced  by  his  eloquent  presentation  of  the  plan  of 
salvation. 

He  had  directed  that  his  epitaph  should  be  "A  preacher 
of  the  gospel — a  sinner  saved  by  grace."  The  end  came 
December,  1857.  When  the  news  of  his  death  reached  the 
State  capital  the  Legislature  was  in  session,  and  at  once 
both  branches  adjourned  out  of  respect  to  his  memory, 
and  to  hear  eulogies  on  his  patriotic  and  Christian  char- 
acter, while  the  citizens  of  the  capital  exhibited  equally 
their  sympathy  in  the  loss  the  people  of  the  State  had  sus- 
tained. 

Rev.  Henry  Little,  D.D.,  takes  rank,  virtually  as  an 
evangelist,  but  also  more  especially  as  a  superintendent 


5o8         A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

of  Home  Missions.  He  was  born  March  30,  1800,  in 
Boscawen,  New  Hampshire;  the  son  of  a  farmer,  he 
labored  as  such  in  his  early  life,  but  in  his  boyish  days 
had  a  desire  to  become  a  minister.  His  religious  life 
seems  to  have  commenced  when  he  was  quite  young,  and 
during  his  youth  and  upward  was  remarkable  for  his 
active  Christian  work  and  the  good  influence  which  he 
exerted  over  his  friends  and  college-mates.  He  inher- 
ited a  vigorous  constitution  from  his  stalwart  Puritan 
ancestry,  and  which  was  strengthened  in  his  youth  by 
healthful  labor  and  exercise  in  a  bracing  climate  amid  the 
hills  of  his  native  State.  An  active  and  temperate  mode 
of  living  in  after  years  preserved  his  health  and  pro- 
longed his  life  to  beyond  four  score. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  began  to  teach  school  during 
the  winter  months,  and  at  twenty  commenced  to  prepare 
for  college;  graduated  in  1826  at  Dartmouth,  the  second 
in  scholarship  in  a  class  of  thirty-six ;  studied  theology  at 
Andover,  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  afterward  ordained 
in  1829  in  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  with  fifteen  other 
young  men,  all  of  whom  designed  to  become  missionaries, 
either  in  their  native  land  or  in  the  foreign  field. 

Having  spent  one  year  as  agent  for  the  American 
Educational  Society,  we  find  him  in  1831  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  Oxford,  Ohio,  the  seat  of  Miami 
University.  Modest  and  unassuming,  yet  energetic  in 
the  performance  of  duty,  his  symmetrical  character  as 
preacher  and  pastor  elicited  the  admiration  of  all,  and 
the  love  of  those  who  knew  him  more  intimately.  Says 
Rev.  Dr.  D.  W.  Fisher:  "I  doubt  whether  a  more  useful 
minister  of  the  gospel  has  lived  in  our  country  during  the 
period  covered  by  his  [ministerial]  life,  but  of  what  he 
had  done  he  seldom  spoke,  unless  he  was  compelled  to 
do  so  by  some  direct  inquiry." 

Dr.   Little  was  most  earnestly  urged  by  the  oflficers 


PRESBYTERIAN    WORTHIES.  509 

and  friends  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
to  become  their  Western  Secretary  or  agent.  This  posi- 
tion he  accepted  and  entered  upon  its  duties  in  April, 
1833.  To  the  labors  of  this  office  he  devoted  all  his 
energies  and  with  great  success  in  that  very  important 
field  of  mission  work.  For  twenty-eight  years  he  thus 
labored,  till  1869,  when  he  became  connected  with  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions.  With  that  or- 
ganization he  was  connected  for  thirteen  years,  when  the 
Master  called  him  home  on  February  25,  1882,  in  his 
eighty-third  year. 

We  of  this  day  have  only  a  faint  conception  of  the 
difficulties  which  at  that  time  had  to  be  overcome  in 
superintending  a  field  of  missions,  so  vast  as  to  include 
the  States  in  the  peninsula  between  the  rivers  Ohio  and 
Mississippi;  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  on  the  south  and 
Missouri  on  the  West.  Dr.  Little  traveled  from  place  to 
place,  often  preaching  by  the  way,  over  this  extensive 
territory  wherever  he  was  specially  needed  in  directing 
the  work. 

Changes  manifestly  for  the  better  in  the  material  and 
moral  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  States  had 
been  going  on  for  a  generation  or  more  {pp.  577,  37^) 
when  Dr.  Little  entered  upon  his  life's  work.  Owing  to 
better  facilities  for  travel  and  transportation  an  unusual 
impulse  had  already  been  given  to  migrations  of  many 
thousands  annually  from  the  older  States  to  the  great 
Central  valley.  These  energetic  and  progressive  Ameri- 
cans, mostly  young  married  people,  had  been  accustomed 
in  their  native  homes  to  churches  and  common  schools, 
all  of  which  they  had  left  to  found  settlements  and  homes 
for  themselves  and  their  families  in  this  land  of  promise. 
There  were  also  others  who  came  in  untold  multitudes 
from  foreign  lands ;  some  ignorant  of  the  Bible  and  priest- 
ridden,  others  speaking  a  different  language,  and  with 


5IO         A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

views  more  or  kss  antagonistic,  especially  to  the  Ameri- 
can mode  of  Sabbath  observance,  and  indeed  often  to  the 
Christian  institutions  of  the  land.  His  work,  through 
the  ministry  of  the  gospel  by  means  of  home  missions, 
was  to  mould  this  miscellaneous  crowd  of  foreigners 
and  native  born  into  a  homogeneous  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. As  a  collateral  sphere  of  influence  and  usefulness, 
he  was  a  sturdy  friend  of  the  common  schools,  which 
he  also  labored  to  introduce  and  to  elevate  their  stand- 
ard of  scholarship. 

For  more  than  a  half  a  century,  even  unto  the  end  of 
his  life.  Dr.  Little  was  blessed  with  a  most  devoted  wife 
— Susan  Norton  Smith — who  was  finely  educated  and 
refined,  and  who  entered  heart  and  soul  into  all  his  plans 
and  sustained  him  in  his  years  of  toil.  At  his  death,  of 
his  eight  children,  he  bequeathed  to  the  church  four  of 
his  sons  as  ministers  and  one  daughter,  the  wife  a  clergy- 
man. 


LI. 

The  Trials  of  Professor  Charles  A.  Briggs. 

The  author  enters  with  many  misgivings  upon  the  nar- 
rative of  the  several  ecclesiastical  trials  of  Dr.  Briggs;  he 
realizes  the  unusual  difficulties  that  present  themselves  in 
treating  the  subject  and  its  several  phases  in  such  manner 
as  to  satisfy  all  parties.  It  is  designed  to  give  concisely 
the  salient  and  essential  points  of  the  charges  made  and 
in  a  similar  manner  the  replies  thereto.  The  reader  will 
please  notice  that  when  quotations  are  given,  reference  is 
made  to  the  page  whence  taken,  that  their  accuracy  may 
be  verified.  The  design  has  also  been  to  make  the  narra- 
tive as  concise  as  truth  and  justice  would  permit.  The 
memory  of  these  trials  still  lingers  in  the  minds  of  those 
private  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  likewise 
of  many  outsiders,  who  at  the  time  took  an  intelligent 
interest  in  the  several  proceedings;  scanned  the  charges 
and  the  arguments  used  to  sustain  them,  and  also  the  re- 
plies thereto,  of  the  Professor,  and  thus  they  became  able 
to  form  definite  opinions  on  the  subject. 

In  respect  to  the  various  charges  and  specifications 
connected  therewith,  and  the  discussions  of  the  doctrines 
involved,  and  also  Scriptural  interpretation,  the  author 
has  endeavored  to  be  concise,  though  not  at  the  expense 
of  clearness.  It  is  noteworthy  that  these  trials,  because 
of  the  questions  thus  brought  into  notice,  elicited  unusual 
attention  in  Christian  circles,  which  continues  at  this  writ- 
ing, not  merely  among  intelligent  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  but  likewise  among  the  similar  class 


512         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

in  Other  denominations — all  being  equally  and  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible. 

The  Professorship  Founded. — The  late  Charles  Butler, 
LL.D.,  a  highly  respected  and  benevolent  gentleman  of 
New  York  City,  and  President  of  the  Board  of  Directors 
of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  donated  $100,000  to 
found  a  professorship  of  Biblical  Theology  in  that  in- 
stitution. This  was  named  the  Edward  Robinson  pro- 
fessorship in  honor  of  that  eminent  Biblical  scholar. 

The  Outline  of  Study. — The  course  of  studies  to  be 
pursued  in  that  professorship  was  distinctive,  and  may  be 
partially  learned  from  the  following  brief  outline.  "Bib- 
lical theology  takes  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  Bible 
as  a  whole  in  the  unity  and  variety  of  the  sum  of  its 
teachings  .  .  .  aiming  to  limit  itself  to  the  theology 
of  the  Bible  itself — the  only  infallible  authority."  Again, 
"Biblical  theology  makes  no  selection  of  texts — it  uses 
the  entire  Bible  in  all  its  passages,  and  in  every  single 
passage,  giving  each  its  place  and  importance  in  the  un- 
folding of  divine  revelation.  To  Biblical  theology  the 
Bible  is  a  mine  of  untold  wealth;  treasures  new  and  old 
are  in  its  storehouses;  all  its  avenues  lead  in  one  way  or 
another  to  the  presence  of  the  living  God  and  the  Divine 
Saviour."     {Professor  Briggs'  Inaugural,  pp.  5,  6.) 

The  future  outcome  on  that  line  of  study  is  summed  up 
by  the  professor  as  follows :  "The  Apostolic  theology 
will  be  traced  from  its  origin  at  Pentecost  in  its  subse- 
quent division  into  the  great  types,  the  conservative 
Jewish  Christian  of  Saint  James  and  the  advanced  Jewish 
Christian  of  Saint  Peter;  the  Gentile  Christian  of  Saint 
Paul  and  the  Hellenistic  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews; 
and,  finally,  the  Johannine  of  the  Gospel,  Epistles,  and 
Apocalypse  of  John;  and  the  whole  will  be  considered, 
in  the  unity  of  the  New  Testament.  As  the  last 
thing    the    whole    Bible    will    be    considered    showing 


THE    TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR   CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.  513 

not  only  the  unity  of  the  Theology  of  Christ  and 
His  apostles,  but  also  the  unity  of  the  Theology  of  Moses 
and  David  and  all  the  prophets  with  the  Theology  of 
Jesus  and  His  apostles,  as  each  distinct  theology  takes 
its  place  in  the  advancing  system  of  divine  revelation,  all 
conspiring  to  the  completion  of  a  perfect,  harmonious, 
symmetrical  organism,  the  infallible  expression  of  God's 
will,  character,  and  being  to  His  favored  children." 
(Study  of  Holy  Scripture,  p.  606.)  On  this  line  of  in- 
terpreting the  teachings  of  the  word  of  God,  Professor 
Briggs  had  been  giving  instruction  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  he  was  accordingly  transferred  to  the  new  profes- 
sorship by  the  directors,  November  11,  1890. 

The  Inaugural — Action  Thereon. — On  the  occasion 
of  his  entering  upon  his  assigned  duties  (January  20, 
1891)  Professor  Briggs  delivered  an  inaugural  address, 
and  to  some  of  the  expressions  and  sentiments  contained 
therein  certain  parties  took  exceptions.  In  consequence, 
the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  on  motion  (April  13,  1891) 
appointed  a  committee,  "to  which  the  said  address  (the 
inaugural)  was  referred  for  consideration,  with  instruc- 
tions to  report  at  the  meeting  in  May,  what  action,  if  any, 
be  appropriate  thereto."  This  committee  reported  to  the 
Presbytery,  May  11,  1891,  and  thereupon  it  was  "Re- 
solved, that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  arrange  and  pre- 
pare the  necessary  proceedings  appropriate  in  the  case  of 
Dr.  Briggs,"  This  committee,  consisting  of  three  ministers 
and  two  elders,  then  became  the  prosecuting  committee. 
The  hearing  of  the  case,  however,  was  postponed  to  the 
meeting  of  the  presbytery  in  the  autumn.  The  following 
ministers  and  elders  constituted  the  prosecuting  com- 
mittee :  Rev.  Drs.  George  W.  F.  Birch,  Joseph  J.  Lampe, 
and  Robert  F.  Sample ;  Elders  John  J.  Stevenson  and  John 
J.  McCook.  Dr.  Sample  took  no  part  publicly  in  the  ac- 
tion of  the  committee. 


514         A     HISTORY     OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

At  this  point  in  the  proceedings  of  these  trials  it  is  due 
truth  and  justice  that  the  reader's  attention  be  directed 
to  certain  influences  that  had  been  operating  within  the 
church  for  two  or  three  years.  These  influences  were 
the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  a  series  of  articles  published 
in  a  certain  newspaper  and  which  were  systematically 
sent  gratis  in  untold  numbers  to  the  leading  ministers 
and  elders  of  the  church,  especially  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  These  articles  were  published  previous  to  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  at  Detroit,  in  1891, 
but  after  that  body  took  action  on  the  subject  they  virtu- 
ally ceased. 

In  illustration  we  give  the  following  extract  from  "The 
History  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,"  by  Professor 
George  L.  Prentiss  (pp.  182,  183). 

"The  leading  secular  journals  of  New  York  watched 
the  case  with  the  greatest  interest  and  furnished  the  pub- 
lic with  a  vast  amount  of  information  on  all  its  successive 
phases.  .  .  .  For  the  most  part  they  were  impartial 
and  eager  to  get  at  and  to  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth 
and,  so  far  as  the  infirmities  of  human  nature  in  the  mat- 
ter of  news  would  permit,  nothing  but  the  truth.  One 
of  them,  however,  'the  leading  evening  paper,'  was  an 
exception.  Its  proprietor  at  that  time,  who  was  said  to  be 
also  the  author  of  some  of  its  sharpest  editorials  on 
the  subject,  was  one  of  the  most  estimable  men  in  New 
York;  kind-hearted,  generous,  and  full  of  varied  Chris- 
tian activity;  but  his  zeal  for  Presbyterian  orthodoxy 
was  not  at  all  according  to  knowledge — Dr.  Briggs  was 
to  him  a  bete  noire,  and  'higher  criticism'  another  namt 
for  downright  infidelity.  The  editorials  on  these  subjects 
were  laden  with  the  wildest  sort  of  personal  abuse  and 
denunciation.  They  were  just  what  for  the  honor  of  fair 
and  truthful  journalism  they  should  not  have  been.  Dr. 
Briggs,  his  colleagues  and  friends,  Union  Seminary  and 


THE   TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR  CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.  515 

its  Board  of  Directors,  day  after  day,  and  month  after 
month,  were  stigmatized  in  frenzied  assaults  of  bHnd  pas- 
sion and  calumny.  And  yet  this  paper  was  sent  far  and 
wide  to  ministers  and  elders  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  countless  numbers,  renewing  old  theological  prejudices 
and  sowing  the  seeds  of  new  ones.  As  a  faithful  his- 
torian of  Union  Seminary  I  have  felt  bound  to  refer  to 
this  painful  instance  and  illustration  of  the  kind  of  war- 
fare which  it  had  to  endure." 

In  this  connection  the  following  incident  may  not  be 
lacking  in  interest  for  the  reader.  It  is  a  general  rule 
that  writers  employed  on  newspapers  are  required  to 
prepare  articles  which  in  their  influence  do  not  antagon- 
ize, but  rather  reflect  the  notions  and  wishes  of  the  pro- 
prietor; to  follow  out  his  suggestions  and  conform  to  his 
directions.  It  was  because  of  this  rule  that  two  of  the 
journalists  employed  at  that  time  on  the  newspaper  men- 
tioned above  afterward  came  to  Dr.  Briggs  and,  explain- 
ing the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed,  ex- 
pressed their  deep  regret  that  they  had  been  instrumental 
in  thus  inflicting  upon  him  a  great  wrong. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1891  met  at  Detroit,  Michi- 
gan, and  to  it  came  sixty-three  overtures  from  presby- 
teries asking  that  action  be  taken  in  relation  to  the  "ut- 
terances of  Professor  Charles  A.  Briggs."  In  accordance 
with  the  evident  desire  implied  in  these  overtures,  the  as- 
sembly resolved:  "That  in  the  exercise  of  its  rights  to 
veto  the  appointments  of  professors  in  the  seminaries,  the 
General  Assembly  hereby  disapproves  of  the  appointment 
of  Rev.  Charles  A.  Briggs  to  the  Edward  Robinson  pro- 
fessorship in  Union  Theological  Seminary." 

First  Trial  of  Dr.  Briggs. — Four  months  after  this  ac- 
tion of  the  assembly  the  matter  came  before  the  Presby- 
tery of  New  York,  October  15,  1891,  when  the  prose- 
cuting committee  presented   their   charges   in   pamphlet 


5l6  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

form.  In  order  to  give  Professor  Briggs  an  opportunity 
"to  plead  to  the  charges  and  specification,"  thus  placed 
in  his  hands,  the  hearing  was  postponed  to  a  meeting  of 
the  presbytery  to  be  held  on  November  4th.  The  pres- 
bytery at  this  meeting  heard  the  case.  In  order  that  the 
members  might  follov^r  the  argument,  they  had  in  their 
hands  printed  copies  of  the  charges  and  specifications  of 
the  prosecuting  committee,  and  also  copies  of  the  in- 
augural, and  of  the  response  to  the  above  charges  made 
by  Professor  Briggs.  The  Professor  was  heard  in  his 
defense.  The  presbytery,  however,  thought  proper  after 
hearing  the  "response  to  the  charges"  to  exercise  its 
right,  and  in  so  doing  it  dismissed  the  case.  The  vote 
stood  ninety-four  to  thirty-nine — in  the  affirmative, 
seventy-one  ministers  and  twenty-three  elders;  in  the 
negative,  twenty-seven  ministers  and  twelve  elders. 

The  presbytery  adopted  the  following:  "Resolved, 
that  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  having  listened  to  the 
paper  of  the  Rev.  Charles  A.  Briggs,  D.D.,  in  the  case, 
etc.,  .  .  .  and  without  approving  of  the  positions 
stated  in  his  inaugural  address,  at  the  same  time  desiring 
earnestly  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  church,  and  in  view 
of  the  declarations  made  by  Dr.  Briggs  touching  his  loy- 
alty to  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Westminster  stand- 
ards, and  his  disclaimers  of  interpretations  put  on  some 
of  his  words,  deems  it  best  to  dismiss  the  case,  and  here- 
by does  so  dismiss  it."    {Minutes  of  the  Presbytery.) 

In  consequence  of  this  action  of  the  presbytery  the 
prosecuting  committee  appealed  to  the  General  Assembly 
which  met  the  following  May  (1892)  at  Portland,  Ore- 
gon. When  the  appeal  came  before  the  assembly  it  was 
sustained,  and  the  decision  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  in  dismissing  the  case,  was  reversed,  and  that  judi- 
catory  was   directed   to  prosecute   the  trial.     This   as- 


THE    TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR   CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.  517 

sembly  took  action  only  on  the  appeal,  and  did  not  enter 
upon  the  merits  of  the  case,  but  directed  a  new  trial. 

The  Second  and  Exhaustive  Trial  of  Dr.  Briggs. — 
This  trial  covers  the  entire  ground,  as  in  the  one  held 
afterward,  before  the  General  Assembly  of  1893,  the  same 
arguments  were  virtually  presented  and  replied  to  in  like 
mamier.  In  accordance  with  the  direction  of  the  assem- 
bly, as  mentioned  above,  the  Presbytery  of  New  York 
at  its  regular  session,  October  3,  1892,  took  preliminary 
action  in  relation  to  a  second  trial  of  Dr.  Briggs.  The 
respective  parties  in  the  case  were  notified  to  be  in  readi- 
ness at  a  special  meeting  of  the  presbytery,  on  November 
9,  1892. 

This  trial  was  exhaustive  in  its  various  details.  It  com- 
menced on  the  day  named,  November  9,  1892,  in  conduct- 
ing it  the  presbytery,  as  time  and  convenience  permitted, 
occupied  about  twenty  days,  and  sometimes  two  sessions 
a  day.    The  final  report  was  made  on  January  9,  1893. 

That  the  reader  may  have  an  idea  of  the  facilities  for 
obtaining  information  on  the  subject  in  hand,  by  the 
presbytery,  when  sitting  as  a  court,  a  few  facts  are  ad- 
duced. In  the  hands  of  each  member  of  the  presbytery — 
one  of  the  most  scholarly  in  the  church — when  acting  as 
a  court  on  this  occasion  were  printed  copies  of  the  in- 
augural address,  on  whose  doctrine  the  charges  were 
based.  Dr.  John  J.  McCook,  in  his  argument  in  behalf 
of  the  prosecuting  committee  before  the  assembly  of  1893, 
says:  "The  trial  is  based  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  in- 
augural address,  and  upon  those  doctrines  of  the  in- 
augural address  which  are  alleged  to  be  offenses  against 
Presbyterian  doctrine.  (The  Appeal  in  the  Briggs 
Heresy  Case,  p.  372.)  This  statement  implied  that  criti- 
cisms should  be  confined  to  the  inaugural  alone. 

In  this,  the  most  complete  trial  in  the  series,  there  were 
in  the  hands  of  each  member  of  the  presbytery   printed 


5l8         A     HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

copias  of  the  inaugural,  the  charges  themselves,  the  re- 
sponse of  Dr.  Briggs  to  the  said  charges,  the  committee's 
second  pamphlet  in  reply  to  Dr.  Briggs's  criticisms  on  its 
/irst,  and  also  its  "amended  charges  and  specifications, 
etc.,  and  other  documents  bearing  on  the  subject. 

Reason  as  an  Authority. — In  the  inaugural  (p.  24)  oc- 
curs the  following:  "There  are  historically  three  great 
fountains  of  divine  authority — the  Bible,  the  Church,  and 
the  Reason."  The  prosecuting  committee  inferred  that 
the  inaugural  in  this  sentence :  "Coordinated  the  Church 
and  Reason  with  the  Bible;"  that  is,  to  use  their  own 
words:  "Making  the  Church  and  the  Reason,  each  to 
be  independent  and  sufficient  fountain  of  divine  author- 
ity." This  assumption  the  Professor  repudiated  strenu- 
ously. First,  because  it  was  untrue;  and  second,  because 
it  was  an  inference  of  the  committee.  In  respect  to  the 
latter,  he  cited  as  an  authoritative  precedent  the  ruling  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  1824  (see  p.  40^),  in  relation 
to  admitting  inferences  as  arguments.  That  ruling  says : 
"No  one  can  tell  in  what  sense  an  ambiguous  expression 
is  used  but  the  speaker  or  writer,  and  he  has  a  right  to 
explain  himself.  .  .  .  Another  principle  is,  that 
no  man  can  rightly  be  convicted  of  heresy  by  inference  or 
implication  .  .  .  it  is  not  right  to  charge  any  man 
with  an  opinion  which  he  disavows." 

The  Professor  states  that  though  the  church  and  rea- 
son are  fountains  in  the  sense  of  means  or  mediums  of 
divine  authority,  they  both  are  fallible,  but  on  the  other 
hand,  "the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
are  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice."  On  the 
second  page  following  the  one  from  which  the  objec- 
tionable sentence  is  quoted,  the  inaugural  has  this  passage 
which  shows  the  sense  in  which  he  used  the  word  "foun- 
tain." It  seems  strange  that  the  gist  of  the  following 
incidental  and  clear  definition  of  the  sense  in  which  Dr. 


THE   TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR  CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.  519 

Briggs  used  the  above  word  was  unfortunately  over- 
looked by  the  committee.  Thus  he  says:  "Another 
means  used  by  God  to  make  himself  known  is  the  forms 
of  the  reason,  using  reason  in  a  broad  sense  to  embrace 
the  metaphysical  categories,  the  conscience  and  the  re- 
ligious feeling.  Here  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  human 
nature,  God  presents  Himself  to  those  who  seek  Him." 
{Inaugural,  p.  26.)  Again,  "Unless  God's  authority  is 
discerned  in  the  forms  of  the  reason  there  is  no  ground 
upon  which  any  of  the  heathen  could  ever  have  been 
saved,  for  they  knew  nothing  of  Bible  or  Church.  .  .  . 
Unless  God's  authority  works  in  the  forms  of  the  reason 
we  cannot  explain  'the  inward  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
bearing  witness  by  and  with  the  Word,  in  our  hearts,'  or 
'the  testimony  of  the  spirit  of  adoption,'  witnessing 
'with  our  spirits  that  we  are  the  children  of  God.'  'It 
is  impossible  that  the  Bible  and  the  Church  should  ever 
exert  their  full  power  until  the  human  reason,  trained 
and  strained  to  the  utmost,  rise  to  the  heights  of  its  en- 
ergies and  reach  forth  after  God  and  His  Christ  with 
absolute  devotion  and  self-renouncing  love.'  "  These  pass- 
ages, quoted  from  the  inaugural,  were  not  elicited  as  ex- 
planatory in  reply  to  a  charge  of  the  committee,  but  were 
used  in  an  appropriate  connection,  and  therefore  the  more 
significant.  {Inaugural,  p.  66;  A  pp.  thereto,  88,  8g. 
Con.  Faith,  I.,  5;  XV II I.,  2.) 

The  reason  used  as  a  means  can  only  be  made  available 
in  its  exercise,  and  that  implies  the  freedom  of  choice. 
Our  first  parents  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  had  that  freedom, 
when  they  chose  to  disobey  the  command  of  God,  and  as 
such  they  were  held  responsible.  The  same  principle  is 
inherent  in  the  souls  of  their  descendants.  Abraham  rea- 
soned when  be  chose  to  accept  the  call  of  God,  or  else  he 
was  a  mental  and  moral  machine,  and  thus  devoid  of 
responsibility.      Joshua    urged    the    Israelites,    saying: 


520         A    HISTORY    OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

"Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve."  Could  they  thus 
choose  without  exercising  their  reason?  The  same  prin- 
ciple runs  through  the  New  Testament  from  beginning  to 
end;  "whosoever  helieveth  in  him  shall  not  perish  but 
have  everlasting  life."  Thus  believing  is  choosing,  and 
therefore  exercising  reason. 

The  Stress  on  Reason. — In  these  trials  the  prosecuting 
committee  seemed  to  lay  special  stress  upon  the  "utter- 
ances" of  Professor  Briggs  in  respect  to  the  reason  or 
the  church  as  a  means  or  fountain  of  divine  authority. 
In  more  fully  expressing  his  views  on  this  subject  Pro- 
fessor Briggs  said:  "I  do  not  mean  that  there  is  any 
original  divine  authority  in  the  human  reason,  or  that 
there  is  any  original  divine  authority  in  the  Christian 
Church,  but  simply  that  they  are  channels,  fountains, 
media,  through  which  God's  Holy  Spirit  speaks  to  men. 
.  .  .  I  use  fountain  not  in  the  sense  of  the  original 
source,  because,  as  I  have  said,  God  alone  is  the  original 
source."  .  .  .  The  church  and  reason  must  yield  to 
the  Supreme  Judge,  the  Holy  Spirit,  when  speaking  in 
Holy  Scripture.  I  have  not  exalted  the  reason  over  the 
Bible.  I  am  no  rationalist."  The  charges  were  elabo- 
rately discussed  by  three  members  of  the  committee,  to 
whose  arguments,  sometimes  traversing  the  same  charges, 
the  Professor  made  answer  seriatim.  He  contended  that 
great  numbers  of  the  citations  from  the  Scriptures  made 
by  the  committee  were  irrelevant  to  the  case,  and  that  the 
others,  when  properly  interpreted,  did  not  invalidate  his 
position.  He  also  urged  that  the  committee  directed  their 
objections  specially  against  their  oivn  interpretation  of 
words  and  phrases  in  isolated  passages  in  the  inaugural, 
and  in  consequence  their  arguments  were  defective,  since 
they  were  leveled  at  illegitimate  inferences  rather  than 
explicit  statements.  He  likewise  directed  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  inaugural  was  very  much  condensed  in  its 


THE   TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR  CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.  5  2 1 

subject  matter — which  covered  a  large  field — and  that  it 
was  addressed  to  an  audience  of  educated  men,  who  were 
at  once  able  to  recognize  the  line  of  thought  and  illustra- 
tion. Owing  to  these  facts  the  inaugural  was  liable  to  be 
misinterpreted;  and  he  complained  of  misleading  state- 
ments in  respect  to  its  sentiments  that  had  been  sent 
broadcast  throughout  the  church. 

The  Pentateuch  and  Isaiah. — We  are  much  limited  as 
to  space,  and  in  consequence  we  state  concisely  the 
charges,  and  in  the  same  manner  the  replies  thereto — 
but  we  hope  clearly.  That  this  should  be  done  is  due 
to  truth  and  justice,  and  equally  so  to  the  private  mem- 
bers of  the  church. 

Some  of  the  charges  as  presented  may  appear  to  the 
lay  mind  as  involving  veritable  heresy.  For  instance, 
the  opinion  that  Moses  did  not  write  the  Pentateuch ;  and 
that  Isaiah  was  not  the  author  of  more  than  half  the 
book  that  bears  his  name.  This  was  only  a  matter  of 
opinion  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Briggs,  and  which  he  did  not 
deem  an  offense  against  the  standards  of  the  church  any 
more  than  the  opinions  held  to-day  by  orthodox  theolo- 
gians as  to  who  wrote  the  book  of  Job,  or  who  was  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  These  opinions 
had,  through  certain  of  the  press  and  otherwise,  been  so 
presented  that  great  numbers  of  private  members  of  the 
church  were  startled  at  a  theory  so  contrary  to  their  own 
notions  on  the  subject  that  they  received  an  impression 
that  Dr.  Briggs  repudiated  the  Pentateuch,  as  if  it  were 
not  Scripture  given  by  inspiration.  These  are,  however, 
the  words  of  Professor  Briggs :  "Though  Moses  be  not 
the  author  of  the  Pentateuch,  yet  Mosaic  history.  Mosaic 
institutions,  and  Mosaic  legislation  lie  at  the  base  of  all 
the  original  documents,  and  the  name  of  Moses  pervades 
the  Pentateuch  as  a  sweet  fragrance,  and  binds  the  whole 
together  with  irresistible  attraction  into  an  organism  of 

35 


522         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

divine  law.  ...  I  firmly  believe  the  Pentateuch  one 
of  the  books  of  Holy  Scripture,  having  divine  authority, 
and  as  I  have  always  taught,  one  of  those  Holy  Scrip- 
tures which  constitute  'the  only  infallible  rule  of  Faith 
and  Practice.'  "  Again :  "Though  Isaiah  did  not  write 
half  the  book  which  bears  his  name,  yet  I  firmly  believe 
that  holy  prophets  no  less  inspired  than  Isaiah  wrote  the 
greater  half  of  the  book  under  the  guidance  of  the  Di- 
vine Spirit,  so  that  the  book  with  different  authors  is  as 
truly  one  of  the  books  of  Holy  Scripture  as  if  it  were 
written  by  Isaiah  alone."     {Response,  p.  21.) 

"The  great  mass  of  the  Old  Testament  was  written  by 
authors  whose  names  or  connection  with  their  writings 
are  lost  in  oblivion.  .  .  .  We  desire  to  know  whether 
the  Bible  came  from  God,  and  it  is  not  of  any  great  im- 
portance that  we  should  know  the  names  of  those 
worthies  chosen  by  God  to  mediate  his  revelation.  It  is 
possible  that  there  is  a  providential  purpose  in  the  with- 
holding of  these  names  in  order  that  men  might  have  no 
excuse  for  building  on  human  authority,  and  so  should  be 
forced  to  resort  to  divine  authority."  {Inaugural,  p.  jj.) 
In  confirmation  of  his  opinion  he  adduces  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  Chap.  I.,  Sec.  4 :  "The  authority  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, for  which  it  ought  to  be  believed  and  obeyed,  de- 
pendeth  not  upon  the  testimony  of  any  man  or  church, 
but  wholly  upon  God  (who  is  truth  itself),  the  author 
thereof;  and  therefore  it  is  to  be  received,  because  it  is 
the  word  of  God."  Again:  "All  that  we  need  to  know, 
all  that  any  Presbyterian  ever  subscribes  to  is  that  the 
Scriptures  'are  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice.'"  {Inaugural,  p.  2j,  Third  edition.)  "I  affirm 
that  I  have  never  anywhere,  or  at  any  time,  made  any 
statements  or  taught  any  doctrines  that  in  the  slightest 
degree  impair  the  above  doctrine.  ...  I  yield  to  no 
one  in  reverence  for  the  Bible.    My  life  is  devoted  to  the 


THE   TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR  CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.         523 

Study  of  the  Bible.  Every  word,  every  syllable,  ever  let- 
ter receives  reverent  and  careful  handling."  {Response, 
p.  20;  Appendix,  p.  pi.) 

Progressive  SanctiRcation  after  Death. — The  intima- 
tions in  the  Scriptures  that  the  redeemed  in  the  Middle  or 
Intermediate  State  take  an  interest  in  the  spiritual  affairs 
of  the  souls  of  men  yet  living  on  the  earth,  has  directed 
especial  attention  to  that  subject,  and  also  to  the  inference 
that  such  loving  interest  on  the  part  of  the  saints  in  that 
state  indicates  progress  in  holiness  and  knowledge. 
Moses  and  Elijah  manifested  that  interest  when  on  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration  they  "spake  of  His  decease 
which  he  was  about  to  accomplish  at  Jerusalem" — where- 
by an  atonement  was  to  be  made  for  human  sin.  Our 
Lord  said :  "There  shall  be  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner 
that  repenteth,"  and  even  Dives,  in  the  parable,  pleads  in 
behalf  of  his  brethren  yet  living. 

The  committee  charged  Professor  Briggs  "with  teach- 
ing that  sanctification  is  not  complete  at  death" — that  is 
it  was  not  perfected — and  it  laid  great  stress  on  the 
charge  "as  contrary  to  the  standards  of  the  church."  The 
committee  cited  as  proof  the  answer  to  Question  37  of  the 
Shorter  Catechism,  which  says :  "The  souls  of  believers 
are  at  their  death  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  do  imme- 
diately pass  into  glory."  The  question  may  be  asked. 
Did  the  Westminster  divines  use  the  word  perfect  in  this 
connection  in  an  absolute  sense,  or  intend  it  to  be  thus 
understood?  Did  they  not  use  the  term  rather  in  the 
sense  of  a  perfect  germ  of  holiness;  that  is,  as  an  ele- 
ment which  is  susceptible  of  being  developed  into  a  state 
of  holiness  that  increases  and  becomes  more  and  more 
assimilated  to  God  in  character.  That  they  used  the  term 
in  the  latter  sense  is  evident  from  their  use  of  it  in  other 
connections.  Such  outcome  would  be  consistent  with  the 
progressive  nature  of  the  soul  itself,  as  an  ever-active. 


524         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

spiritual,  moral,  and  intellectual  being;  and  more  espe- 
cially when  freed  from  the  infirmities  of  the  body.  On 
the  contrary,  if  the  souls  of  the  redeemed  are  at  death 
made  absolutely  perfect  in  holiness,  in  that  respect  they 
would  remain  stationary  throughout  the  intermediate 
state,  for  being  already  perfect  there  could  be  no  further 
progress. 

"At  their  death,"  does  not  necessarily  imply  "in  the 
very  moment  of  the  transition  from  life  to  death  .  .  . 
but  is  in  antithesis  with,  in  this  life,"  and  means  noth- 
ing more  than  "in  the  state  of  death."  "Made  perfect 
in  holiness"  does  not  necessarily  imply  "that  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  soul  is  instantaneously  perfected  and  com- 
pleted, in  the  moment  of  time  after  it  leaves  the  body," 
but  is  consistant  with  the  belief  that  the  soul  is  made  per- 
fect in  holiness  "in  the  state  of  death,"  in  accordance 
with  the  answer  to  Question  86,  L.  C. :  "The  communion 
in  glory  with  Christ,  which  the  members  of  the  invisible 
church  enjoy  immediately  after  death,  is  in  that  their 
souls  are  then  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  received  into 
the  highest  heavens,  where  they  behold  the  face  of  God 
in  light  and  glory."  "Is  that  communion  limited  to  the 
moment  of  time  at  death?  Does  it  not  rather  continue 
during  the  whole  time  in  that  state,  beginning  immedi- 
ately after  death?"     {Condensed  from  Defense,  pp.  151- 

I53-) 

Professor  Briggs  holds  the  doctrine  of  the  progress  of 

the  soul  in  holiness  in  this  life,  according  to  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  as  presented  in  the  answer  to  the  thirty-fifth 
question  of  Shorter  Catechism,  which  says :  "Sanctifica- 
tion" — or  making  holy — "is  a  work  of  God's  grace  where- 
by we  are  renewed  in  the  whole  man  after  the  image  of 
God,  and  are  enabled  more  and  more  to  die  unto  sin  and 
live  unto  righteousness." 

Dr.  Birch,  in  behalf  of  the  committee,  argued  that  "all 


THE   TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR   CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.  525 

dead  Christians  are  asleep.  When  we  are  asleep  we  show 
the  rest  which  consists  in  the  inaction  of  mind  and  body. 
But  all  the  Christians,  both  dead  and  living,  must  be 
changed;  and  why  the  dead  Christians  should  be  com- 
pelled to  go  through  the  process  of  sanctification  in  the 
Middle  State,  while  living  Christians  are  the  subjects  of 
immediate  sanctification,  I  cannot  imagine.  {Argument, 
p.  62.) 

Dr.  Briggs  holds  that  this  progress  in  sanctification  or 
holiness  continues  in  the  Middle  State,  and  contends  that 
"the  doctrine  of  immediate  sanctification  at  death  dis- 
honors Jesus  Christ,  for  it  confines  His  heavenly  reign 
and  meditation  to  the  Church  in  this  world." 

"Regeneration  is  an  act  of  God,  and  from  its  very  idea 
is  instantaneous,  for  it  is  the  production  of  a  new  life 
in  man.  Regeneration  is  one  of  the  terms  used  in  the 
New  Testament  to  describe  this  beginning  of  Christian 
life.  But  sanctification  is  the  growth  of  that  life  from 
birth  to  full  manhood  into  the  likeness  of  Christ.  It  is 
in  this  world  a  growth;  it  is  incomplete  with  the  best  of 
men  at  death.  .  .  .  Believers  who  enter  the  Middle 
State,  enter  guiltless;  they  are  pardoned  and  justified; 
they  are  mantled  in  the  blood  and  righteousness  of  Christ ; 
nothing  will  be  able  to  separate  them  from  His  love. 
.  .  .  But,  above  all,  Christ  is  a  king  in  the  intermedi- 
ate state.  Here  in  this  world  His  reign  is  only  partial; 
there  it  is  complete.  Here  His  kingdom  is  interwoven 
with  the  kingdom  of  darkness;  there  it  is  apart  from  all 
evil  and  hindrance.  His  reign  is  entire  over  His  saints, 
and  they  are  being  prepared  by  Him  for  the  advent,  in 
which  they  will  come  with  Him  to  reign  over  the  world." 
{Inaugural  Appendix,  pp.  io6,  loy,  no.) 

The  Soul  in  the  Middle  State. — In  proof  that  his  belief 
was  in  accordance  with  that  taught  in  the  standards  of 
the  church,  Dr.  Briggs  cited  what  is  said  of  the  condition 


526  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

of  the  soul  in  the  Middle  State,  when  "in  communion  in 
glory  with  Christ."  Question  86,  Larger  Catechism: 
"The  communion  in  glory  with  Christ,  which  the  mem- 
bers of  the  invisible  church  enjoy  immediately  after 
death,  is  in  that  their  souls  are  then  made  perfect  in  IioHt 
ness  and  received  into  the  highest  heavens,  where  they 
behold  the  face  of  God  in  light  and  glory,  waiting  for 
the  full  redemption  of  their  bodies."  The  professor  re- 
fers to  the  group  of  questions  and  answers  in  the  Larger 
Catechism  (82-90),  which  treat  of  the  communion  of 
saints  in  glory  with  Christ  in  the  Middle  State,  and  to 
Chapter  XIIL  of  the  Confession.  He  sums  up  by  say- 
ing: "There  is  no  authority  in  the  Scriptures  or  in  the 
creeds  of  Christendom  for  the  doctrine  of  immediate  and 
perfect  sanctification  at  death.  The  only  sanctification 
known  to  experience,  to  Christian  orthodoxy,  and  the 
Bible  is  progressive  sanctification.  Progressive  sanctifica- 
tion after  death  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  and  of  the 
church,  and  it  is  of  vast  importance  in  our  times  that  we 
should  understand  it  and  live  in  accordance  with  it." 
(Inaugural,  p.  54.)  "It  is  extremely  improbable  that  the 
Westminster  divines  would  limit  the  communion  in  the 
future  state  to  two  points  of  time — first,  the  moment  of 
death,  and  second,  the  moment  of  resurrection,  and  leave 
entirely  out  of  view  the  millenniums  of  the  Middle  State 
and  the  eternities  of  the  Ultimate  State.  {The  Defense, 
p.  155.)  The  human  soul  is  a  finite  being  and  can  never 
reach  infinity;  it,  therefore,  can  ever  increase  in  holiness, 
but  never  attain  the  infinite  holiness  of  God.  How  could 
the  redeemed,  if  no  farther  endowed  in  holiness  than  they 
are  on  earth  or  in  the  article  of  death,  be  able  to  enjoy 
or  sympathize  continuously  with  the  communion  of  saints 
in  heaven?  In  order  to  do  so,  must  they  not  continually 
increase  in  holiness  and  knowledge? 
A  Future  or  Second  Probation. — In  relation  to  the 


THE   TRIALS  OF  PROFESSOR  CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS.  527 

modern  theory  of  a  second  probation  after  death  the  Pro- 
fessor says :  "I  do  not  find  this  doctrine  in  the  Bible."  In 
consequence,  he  repudiated  the  supposition  that  in  the 
Middle  State  the  training  of  redeemed  souls  partook  of 
the  nature  of  probation.  He  says:  "I  do  find  in  the 
Bible  the  doctrine  of  the  Middle  State  of  conscious  higher 
life  in  the  communion  with  Christ  and  the  multitudes 
of  the  departed  of  all  ages  (//.  Cor.,  v.,  i-g,  and  Heb. 
xii.,  21-24),  and  of  the  necessity  of  entire  sanctification 
in  order  that  the  work  of  redemption  may  be  completed." 
{Inaugural,  p.  54.) 

The  committee  virtually  argued  that  in  respect  to  the 
redeemed  souls'  progress  in  sanctification  or  increase  in 
holiness  after  death  there  was  no  explicit  statement,  either 
in  the  Scriptures  or  in  the  Confession;  yet  such  progress 
is  obviously  implied  in  both,  and  is  also  consistent  with 
the  ever-active,  moral,  and  intellectual  nature  of  the  soul 
itself.  Is  the  aged  and  devout  Christian  no  more  Christ- 
like in  character  than  when  in  youth  he  or  she  set  out  to 
follow  the  Saviour  "in  the  regeneration?"  To  reject 
such  progress  in  sanctification  or  holiness,  is  to  contravene 
the  spiritual  and  glorious  doctrine  of  the  communion  of 
saints  in  the  Middle  State,  as  set  forth  by  the  Apostle 
Paul  with  exstatic  joy  (//.  Cor.  xii.,  1-8).  Professor 
Farrand  in  his  booklet,  "The  Other  Side,"  on  page  30, 
says:  "The  verdict  of  heresy  on  this  charge  is  the  most 
astonishing  of  all.  .  .  .  That  judgment  of  the  as- 
sembly would  rule  John  Calvin  out  of  the  Presbyterian 
ministry."  Calvin  on  Phil.  1-6,  as  quoted  by  Professor 
Briggs,  says:  "For  although  those  who  have  been  freed 
from  the  mortal  body  do  no  longer  contend  with  the 
lusts  of  the  flesh.  .  .  .  Yet  there  will  be  no  absurdity 
in  speaking  of  them  as  in  the  way  of  advancement."  Still 
further,  it  is  a  marvel  that  a  Christian  scholar  should  be 
charged  with  heresy  because  he  held  this  doctrine,  so 


528         A     HISTORY     OF     THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

real  and  so  comforting  to  God's  people,  so  sublime  in  its 
spiritual  and  intellectual  results,  and  universally  recog- 
nized by  the  experience  of  all  Christians  as  consistent  with 
their  longing  desire  to  be  more  and  more  assimilated  to 
God  in  holiness. 


LIL 

Briggs  Trial  Continued. 

Errors  or  Rather  Discrepancies  in  the  Bible. — The 
prosecuting  committee  charged  Dr.  Briggs  with  holding 
there  were  errors  in  the  Bible,  and  that  therefore  such 
teaching  "was  contrary  to  the  standards  of  the  church." 
Referring  to  the  Confession,  Chap.  I.,  i,  the  Professor 
says  this  teaches  that  God  "committed  wholly  to  writing 
that  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  will,  which  is  neces- 
sary unto  salvation.  This  statement  I  sincerely  adopt." 
Note  what  was  thus  committed  to  writing:  "Not  the 
knowledge  of  geography,  not  the  knowledge  of  chronol- 
ogy, not  the  knowledge  of  correct  citations,  not  exactness 
in  names  of  persons  and  things,  unless  you  can  prove 
that  these  are  necessary  unto  salvation."     {Defense,  p. 

93-) 

Such  errors  or  rather  discrepancies  have  been  recog- 
nized by  theologians  and  Bible  students  from  Augustine 
and  Jerome  to  John  Calvin,  and  from  the  latter  to  the 
present  day.  But  what  is  wonderful,  not  one  of  them 
impairs  or  infringes  upon  the  truths  that  pertain  to  the 
salvation  of  men.  Professor  Briggs  says :  "These  errors 
are  all  in  the  circumstances,  and  not  in  the  essentials ;  they 
are  in  the  human  setting,  not  in  the  precious  jewel 
itself" — that  is,  the  divine  revelation.  .  .  .  "The  only 
errors  I  have  found  or  ever  recognized  in  Holy 
Scripture  have  been  beyond  the  range  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice. ...  I  have  always  refrained  as  far  as  possible 
from  pointing  to  errors^-in  the  present  text  of  the  Scrip- 


53°  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

tures.  But  every  Biblical  scholar  admits  them."  {In- 
augural, p.  S5>  <^^d  Defense,  pp.  8p,  lo^.)  Intelligent 
lay  members  of  the  church  have,  unfortunately,  been 
much  disturbed  on  this  point  within  recent  years,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  frequent  publication  by  portions  of  the 
religious  press  and  otherwise  of  remarks  made  by  Pro- 
fessor Briggs  in  relation  to  these  discrepancies.  These 
remarks  were  very  often  quoted  by  certain  newspapers, 
without  reference  or  explanation  as  to  the  connection  in 
which  they  occur,  but  rather  with  unfriendly  comments 
upon  their  own  interpretation  of  the  views  of  the  profes- 
sor, with  the  legitimate  result  that  he  came  to  be  looked 
upon  by  great  numbers  of  the  private  members  of  the 
church  as  an  impugner  of  the  integrity  of  the  Bible, 

The  Two  Citations. — Since  the  Reformation  much 
study  has  been  devoted  by  the  theologians  to  reconcile 
these  discrepancies.  Elaborate  investigations  have  been 
made  into  the  original  tongues  in  which  these  passages 
were  written,  together  with  the  translations  thereof,  and 
into  contemporary  profane  history.  It  is  du£  the  reader 
that  we  give  an  instance  or  two  of  these  discrepancies 
from  a  number  that  might  be  adduced.  John  Calvin 
said,  in  respect  to  Matt,  xxvii.,  9:  "How  the  name  of 
Jeremiah  crept  in,  I  confess  I  know  not,  nor  am  I  seri- 
ously troubled  about  it.  That  the  name  Jeremiah  has 
been  put  for  Zechaniah  by  an  error,  the  fact  itself  shows, 
because  there  is  no  such  statement  in  Jeremiah." 

Take  another  instance  which  Calvin  also  noticed;  one 
very  simple  in  character  and  inoffensive  in  influence. 
Gen.  xlvii.,  31,  reads:  "And  he  said,  swear  unto  me;  and 
he  swore  unto  him.  And  Isreal  bowed  himself  upon  the 
bed's  head."  In  Heb.  xi.,  21,  we  read:  "By  faith  Jacob, 
when  he  was  a-dying,  blest  each  of  the  sons  of  Joseph; 
and  worshiped  leaning  upon  the  top  of  his  staff."  Cal- 
vin, in  substance,  explains;  there  are  two  Hebrew  words 


BRIGGS    TRIAL    CONTINUED.  53 1 

alike  in  their  consonant  letters,  but  under  one  of  the 
letters  of  one  word,  the  vowel  point  is  different  from  that 
under  the  same  letter  in  the  other  word.  In  the  Greek 
version  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  the  Apostles  used, 
and  which  was  made  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt,  about  250 
B.  C,  the  seventy  Jews — uninspired  men — the  translators, 
instead  of  rendering  the  Hebrew  word  in  question,  by  a 
Greek  word,  meaning  couch  or  bed,  by  an  oversight  in 
respect  to  the  vowel  point,  translated  the  word  by  one 
meaning  a  staff.  "But  what  matters  such  an  error  as 
this?  What  difference  does  it  make  to  our  faith  and  prac- 
tice, whether  Jacob  leaned  on  his  staff  or  his  bed's  head  ?" 
(Defense,  pp.  106,  loy.) 

Professor  Briggs  in  the  course  of  his  argument  di- 
rected attention  to  a  number  of  discrepancies  that  may 
be  more  important  in  their  influence  than  the  two  cited 
above,  but  none  of  them  impair  divine  revelation  in  re- 
spect to  the  salvation  of  men.  Is  a  scholar  a  heretic  be- 
cause he  incidentally  notices  these  discrepancies  and  points 
out  their  harmlessness?  In  truth,  they  ought  to  have  a 
beneficial  influence  in  directing  judicious  and  reverent 
criticism,  thus  making  known  how  wonderfully  God  has 
preserved  the  "precious  jewel"  of  His  revelation. 

Dr.  Briggs  protested  most  earnestly  against  certain 
changes  in  phraseology  made  by  the  committee,  and  the 
arguments  based  thereon  as  misleading  and  giving  an 
untrue  impression.  For  instance  in  the  inaugural  {p.  28, 
Third  edition)  is  the  following:  "Men  are  influenced  by 
their  temperaments  and  environments,  which  of  the  three 
ways" — alluding  to  the  Bible,  the  Church,  and  the  Rea- 
son— "of  access  to  God  they  may  pursue."  This  sentence 
the  prosecuting  committee  in  its  charges  {p.  ip)  for  some 
reason  changed  to  the  active  voice,  and  for  the  word  "in- 
fluenced" substituted  the  word  "determine."  Dr.  Briggs, 
after   referring  to   the   false   impression  made  by  this 


532  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

change,  said  in  reply :  "It  is  the  Spirit  of  God  who  alone 
determines  in  which  of  the  ways  they  shall  find  the  divine 
certainty  of  which  they  are  in  quest."     {Res.,  p.  28.) 

Race  Redemption. — "The  Bible  tells  us  of  a  race  origin, 
a  race  sin,  a  race  ideal,  a  race  Redeemer,  and  a  race  re- 
demption {Rom.  v.,  18;  I.  John  ii.,  2).  But  Dr.  Birch, 
in  his  argument  {p.  68),  says:  "The  assertion  of  a  race 
redemption  suggests  Universalism."  The  inaugural, 
however  {pp.  5^,  56)  had  already  said:  "The  Bible  does 
not  teach  universal  salvation,  but  does  teach  the  salva- 
tion of  the  world  ...  of  the  race  of  man  .  .  . 
the  salvation  of  the  world  as  a  whole,  compared  with 
which  the  unredeemed  will  be  few  and  insignificant,  and 
evidently  beyond  the  reach  of  redemption  by  their  own 
act  of  rejecting  it." 

The  Prejudices  Excited. — The  committee  charged  that 
the  "utterances"  of  Dr.  Briggs — which  it  characterized 
as  "erroneous  and  ill-advised" — "have  seriously  disturbed 
the  peace  of  the  church  .  .  .  and  produced  such 
widespread  uneasiness  and  agitation,  as  to  cause  sixty- 
three  presbyteries  to  overture  the  assembly  [at  Detroit] 
with  reference  to  the  same  .  .  .  yet  we  [the  com- 
mittee] have  determined  not  to  include  this  grave  offense 
against  the  peace  of  the  church  in  the  list  of  formal 
charges."  {Report  of  Committee,  pp.  4,  5.)  This  proc- 
lamation of  leniency  had  virtually  the  same  effect  upon 
the  public  mind  as  if  such  charges  had  been  made ;  against 
that  impression  Professor  Briggs  earnestly  protested. 

The  prejudice  against  Dr.  Briggs,  so  notorious  that  it 
has  been  noticed  adversely  by  writers  in  other  denomi- 
nations, can  be  explained  in  view  of  influences  exerted 
for  years  through  the  press  {see  page  514).  The  persons 
thus  influenced  were  of  two  classes — private  members 
of  the  church  and  the  ministry — though  only  a  portion  of 
either  class.    That  which  obtained,  especially  among  the 


BRIGGS    TRIAL    CONTINUED.  533 

private  members,  was  the  outgrowth  of  two  causes;  the 
one,  his  notices  of  the  errors  or  discrepancies  in  the  Bible 
— as  mentioned  above — which  occurred  incidentally  in  his 
investigations;  the  other,  his  opinion  that  Moses  did  not 
write  the  Pentateuch  and  Isaiah  did  not  write  all  the  book 
that  bears  his  name.  Under  the  first  head,  some  Chris- 
tian people  assumed  that  if  the  Bible  contained  errors  or 
discrepancies  it  could  not  be  an  inspired  book ;  and  under 
the  second  head,  that  if  Professor  Briggs  did  not  accept 
the  current  opinion  as  to  the  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch 
and  of  the  book  of  Isaiah,  they  took  for  granted  he 
rejected  their  divine  authority.  For  the  most  part,  the  pri- 
vate members,  for  obvious  reasons,  never  took  much  in- 
telligent interest  in  the  ecclesiastical  trials  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  during  the  last  half  century  or  more,  because 
in  them  were  involved  many  metaphysical  theories  which 
are  discussed  only  by  theologians;  for  similar  reason  the 
same  class  took  comparatively  little  interest  in  the  present 
trial  in  regard  to  the  "fountain  of  authority  in  the  church 
and  reason."  They  took,  however,  an  interest  in  the  dis- 
cussion on  progressive  sanctification  or  increase  in  holi- 
ness, as  it  appealed  to  their  own  spiritual  life  or  con- 
sciousness. It  was  different  in  respect  to  the  authors  or 
writers  of  the  Bible,  which  they  were  accustomed  to  rec- 
ognize as  such — that  they  understood.  They  also  could 
appreciate  certain  statements — though  misleading — ^that 
were  in  the  public  prints  in  relation  to  discrepancies  in 
the  Bible,  and  concerning  Moses  and  Isaiah.  During  a 
number  of  years  previous  to  these  trials  unauthorized 
statements  in  relation  to  the  professor's  views  in  respect 
to  these  errors  were  spread  broadcast  throughout  the 
church.  Reference  was  scarcely  ever  made  in  these  pub- 
lications as  to  the  unimportant  character  of  the  discrep- 
ancies, nor  explanation  given  of  the  connections  in  which 
they  occur,  but  on  the  contrary,  they  were  usually  ac- 


534  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

companied  by  unfriendly  comments.  In  consequence, 
great  numbers  of  Christian  people  whose  range  of  Bib- 
lical interpretation  was  somewhat  limited,  seeing  these 
bald  statements,  inferred  that  if  the  Bible  contained  er- 
rors or  discrepancies  its  divine  character  was  impeached. 
If  these  Christian  men  and  women  had  had  the  facts  in 
the  case  fully  presented  to  them,  their  faith  in  the  Bible 
would  have  been  not  only  unimpaired  but  strengthened. 

Educated  Bible  scholars  know  well  the  unimportant 
character  of  these  few  discrepancies  in  the  sacred  volume, 
which,  owing  to  misapprehensions,  so  sadly  disturbed  the 
minds  of  many  of  the  Presbyterian  laity.  In  respect  to 
the  ministry  and  their  apparently  unconscious  prejudice, 
it  seems  to  have  been  occasioned  by  an  idiosyncrasy  of 
Dr.  Briggs  himself — was  this  characteristic  on  trial  ?  He 
was  so  confident  of  the  correctness  of  his  own  position  in 
relation  to  Biblical  interpretations,  that  he  was  unable 
to  understand  why  educated  theologians  could  not  see  the 
same  from  their  standpoint  that  he  did  from  his.  And 
sometimes  he  impulsively  treated  their  opinions  on  such 
subjects  with  little  respect,  almost  indeed  with  contempt. 
This  was  very  unfortunate  and  perhaps  even  unreason- 
able, and  meanwhile  very  irritating.  But  he  earnestly 
and  publicly  asked  pardon  of  both  these  parties  when,  in 
reply  to  the  charge  of  the  committee,  he  said :  "If  I  have 
in  any  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  been  the  occasion  of 
disturbing  the  peace  of  the  church,  I  deeply  regret  it. 
If  I  have  given  pain  and  anxiety  to  my  brethren  in  the 
ministry,  or  to  the  people  of  Christ's  Church  by  any  ut- 
terances in  the  inaugural  address,  I  am  very  sorry." 
{The  Response,  p.  6.) 

The  Minute  Adopted. — On  the  conclusion  of  the  second 
trial  of  Dr.  Briggs — January  9,  1893 — the  presbytery 
adopted  the  following  from  the  report  of  the  committee 


BRIGGS    TRIAL    CONTINUED.  535 

"appointed  to  bring  in  a  minute  to  express  its  action 
.     .     .     and  final  judgment  in  the  case," 

"In  obedience  to  this  mandate" — that  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1892 — "the  Presbytery  of  New  York  has 
tried  the  case.  It  has  listened  to  the  evidence  and  argu- 
ment of  the  committee  of  prosecution,  acting  in  fidelity  to 
the  duty  committed  to  them.  It  has  heard  the  defense  and 
evidence  of  the  Rev.  Charles  A.  Briggs,  presented  in 
accordance  with  the  rights  secured  to  every  minister  of 
the  church. 

"The  presbytery  has  kept  in  mind  these  established 
principles  of  our  polity,  'that  no  man  can  rightly  be  con- 
victed of  heresy  by  inference  or  implication,'  that  'in  the 
interpretation  of  ambiguous  expressions  candor  requires 
that  a  court  should  favor  the  accused  by  putting  upon 
his  words  the  more  favorable  rather  than  the  less  favor- 
able construction,'  and  'there  are  truths  and  forms  with 
respect  to  which  men  of  good  character  may  differ.' 

"Giving  due  consideration  to  the  defendant's  explana- 
tion of  the  language  used  in  his  inaugural  address,  ac- 
cepting his  frank  and  full  disclaimer  of  the  interpretation 
which  has  been  put  upon  some  of  its  phrases  and  illustra- 
tions, crediting  his  affirmations  of  loyalty  to  the  stand- 
ards of  the  church  and  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  only 
infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  the  presbytery  does 
not  find  that  he  has  transgressed  the  limits  of  the  liberty 
allowed  under  our  constitution  to  scholarship  and  opinion. 

"Therefore,  without  expressing  approval  of  the  critical 
or  theological  views  embodied  in  the  inaugural  address  or 
the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  expressed  and  il- 
lustrated, the  presbytery  pronounces  the  Rev.  Charles  A. 
Briggs,  D.D.,  fully  acquitted  of  the  ofifenses  alleged 
against  him,  the  several  charges  and  specifications  ac- 
cepted for  probation  having  been  not  sustained."  {The 
Briggs  Heresy  Case,  p.  21.) 


536         A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

We  find  that  twenty-three  regular  pastors  voted  in  the 
affirmative,  and  in  connection  with  the  churches  of  the 
latter  ten  chapel  or  assistant  pastors;  in  the  negative, 
regular  pastors  ten,  chapel  or  assistant  pastors  two.  That 
is,  thirty-three  of  the  regular  pastors  and  their  assistants 
voted  to  acquit,  while  twelve  of  the  same  class  voted  to 
condemn. 

Thus  ended  the  second  trial  of  Professor  Briggs  before 
the  Presbytery  of  New  York.  It  was  marked  by  a  care- 
ful scrutiny  of  every  point  at  issue,  and  for  being  con- 
ducted in  a  courteous  manner.  The  physical  and  mental 
strain  upon  the  moderator.  Dr.  John  C.  Bliss,  was  very 
great.  He  presided  with  courtesy  and  close  attention  to 
every  speaker  and  phase  of  the  trial;  his  rulings  being 
well  considered  and  impartial.  In  addition,  to  the  mental 
strain  during  the  day,  at  night,  came  the  careful  revision 
with  the  stenographer  of  the  notes  of  the  latter,  in  order 
to  have  them  in  readiness  for  the  session  on  the  follow- 
ing day.  These  labors  were  appreciated  and  recognized 
by  a  unanimous  vote  of  thanks,  most  heartily  given  by  the 
presbytery. 

The  General  Assembly  of  May,  1893,  met  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  Rev.  Prof.  Craig  of  McCormick  Seminary 
was  elected  moderator.  In  order  that  the  reader  may 
have  a  clear  conception  of  these  trials,  certain  facts  and 
influences  ought  to  be  considered.  The  members  of  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York  were  the  same  during  the  two 
trials  of  Dr.  Briggs  which  it  held,  and  its  members  were 
thus  familiar  with  all  the  phases  connected  therewith.  The 
presbytery  had  for  weeks  the  documents  mentioned  above 
(pp.  516,  517),  and  also  heard  the  respective  arguments 
presented  on  the  occasion,  and  could  compare  their  rele- 
vancy to  the  charges  based  on  doctrines  of  the  inaugural, 
which  they  had  in  their  hands.  The  members  of  the 
General  Assembly,  according  to  conventional  rule,  are  vir- 


BRIGGS    TRIAL    CONTINUED.  537 

tually  changed  from  year  to  year;  in  consequence  of  the 
nearly  600  members  of  the  assembly  of  1893  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  very  few,  comparatively,  had  been  also 
members  of  the  one  of  1892,  at  Portland,  Oregon,  or, 
perhaps,  at  Detroit  in  1891.  Then,  again,  of  the  docu- 
ments that  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  how  many  copies  of  which  were  in  use  by  the 
members  of  the  assembly  of  1893,  when  it  sat  as  a  court? 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  though  all  the  charges  against 
Dr.  Briggs  were  based  upon  his  inaugural  address,  not 
a  copy  of  that  document  was  the  assembly  of  1893  will- 
ing to  adduce.  A  commissioner  proposed  to  have  copies 
of  it  introduced,  "that  the  quotations  [from  it]  might  be 
read  in  their  connections,  but  the  assembly  paid  no  heed 
to  the  proposal.     {A  Calm  Review.    Dr.  Laidlow,  p.  2p.) 

To  be  sure,  the  assembly  of  1893  heard  the  arguments 
bearing  on  the  merits  of  the  case,  which  were  in  essential 
points  the  same  as  those  presented  by  the  committee  to 
the  presbytery,  but  previous  to  this  it  also  heard  at  great 
length  the  elaborate  speeches  made  by  three  members  of 
the  prosecuting  committee  in  behalf  of  their  own  appeal 
from  the  decisions  of  the  presbytery.  These  speeches 
contained  adverse  criticisms  on  the  action  of  the  latter 
court,  in  first  dismissing  the  case,  and  second  in  its  ac- 
quittal of  Dr.  Briggs. 

These  "adverse  criticisms,"  which  took  so  much  time 
of  the  assembly,  had  really  nothing  to  do  whatever  with 
the  merits  of  the  case,  though  their  influence  might  in- 
cidentally prejudice  the  court  against  the  professor,  and 
also  against  the  action  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York. 
There  were  one  or  two  influential  considerations  in  con- 
trast. The  presbytery,  in  conducting  the  trials,  was  not 
distracted  by  outside  matters,  but  was  able  to  give  its  en- 
tire attention  to  the  subject  in  hand.  On  the  contrary, 
the  attention  of  the  members  of  the  assembly  must  have 
36 


538         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

been  given,  also,  to  the  other  numerous  affairs  of  the 
church,  such  as  to  the  reports  of  its  many  committees, 
and  the  discussions  thereon.  In  consequence,  instead  of 
attending,  uninterruptedly,  to  the  trial  as  did  the  presby- 
tery, the  assembly,  amid  the  pressure  of  other  business 
and  at  different  times  as  opportunity  served,  heard  in 
turn  the  pleas  of  the  contestants.  That  its  members  were, 
sometimes,  weary  is  indicated  by  the  following  statement 
in  Dr.  Laidlaw's  "Review,"  p.  28:  "No  wonder  that  at 
one  stage  of  the  proceedings,  when  Dr.  Briggs  was  pre- 
senting some  of  his  most  important  evidence,  a  commis- 
sioner should  have  moved  that  the  assembly  take  an  ex- 
tended recess,  as  about  half  a  dozen  commissioners  near 
him  were  fast  asleep." 

Inerrancy  of  the  Bible — A  New  Phase. — The  inerrancy 
of  the  Bible  came  up  in  a  new  phase,  when  the  General 
Assembly  of  1892  in  session  at  Portland,  Oregon,  de- 
clared :  "Our  church  holds  that  the  inspired  word,  as  it 
came  from  God,  is  without  error."  {Minutes,  p.  179.) 
This  deliverance  is  deemed  to  teach  "the  inerrancy  of  the 
original  autographs  of  Scripture  to  be  the  faith  of  the 
church."  In  allusion  to  this  deliverance  Dr.  Briggs 
{App.,  p.  p6)  says :  "The  Westminster  Confession  does 
not  teach  the  modern  dogmatic  theory  of  inerrancy. 
Nothing  is  said  of  original  autographs.  The  West- 
minister divines  were  concerned  only  with  the  purity  and 
authenticity  of  the  texts  in  their  hands.  .  .  .  These 
divines  knew  as  well  as  we  do  that  the  accents  and  vowel 
points  of  the  Hebrew  text  then  in  their  possession  did 
not  come  down  from  the  original  autographs,  pure  and 
unchanged.  They  were  not  in  the  original  autographs  at 
all." 

This  deliverance  attracted  attention  and  numbers  of 
pastors  throughout  the  church  protested  in  general  terms 
against  such  declaration,  which  was  introduced  by  a  com- 


BRIGGS    TRIAL    CONTINUED.  539 

mittee  and  hastily  adopted  by  the  assembly  only  a  few 
hours  before  its  final  adjournment,  when  one  hundred  and 
seven  members  were  not  present.  In  consequence,  there 
was  not  time  to  enter  a  dissent  to  the  proceedings,  but  at 
the  assembly  of  1893,  Washington,  D.  C,  a  protest  was 
presented  and  signed  by  eighty-seven  members,  whose 
names  are  honored  in  the  church,  such  as  Rev.  Drs.  Her- 
reck  Johnson,  S.  J.  Niccolls,  Charles  L.  Thompson,  George 
Alexander,  Charles  A.  Dickey,  Francis  Brown,  Ninian 
Beal  Remick,  and  others. 

The  Protest,  which  in  part  said :  "We  protest,  because 
it  is  insisting  upon  a  certain  theory  of  inspiration,  when 
our  standards  have  hitherto  only  emphasized  the  fact  of 
inspiration.  So  far  as  the  original  manuscript  came  from 
God,  undoubtedly  it  was  without  error  .  .  .  but  we 
have  no  means  of  determining  how  far  God  controlled  the 
penman  in  transcribing  from  documents  purely  circum- 
stantial." Again,  we  protest :  "Because  it  is  dogmatizing 
on  a  matter  of  which,  necessarily,  we  can  have  no  positive 
knowledge.  .  .  .  Notwithstanding  some  apparent 
discrepancies  in  matters  purely  circumstantial,  we  earn- 
estly protest  against  imposing  this  new  interpretation  of 
ooir  standards  upon  the  church  to  bind  men's  consciences 
by  enforced  subscription  to  its  terms." 

The  committee  appointed  to  answer  the  above  protest 
closes  their  answer  with  the  following  conditional  sen- 
tence :  "If  errors  were  found  in  the  original  autographs, 
they  could  not  have  proceeded  from  God,  who  is  truth 
itself,  the  Author  thereof."  {Minutes,  1893,  pp.  167- 
169.) 

The  Explanatory  Resolution. — In  order  apparently  to 
explain  the  feature  objected  to  in  the  Portland  deliverance 
the  assembly  of  1893,  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  William  C. 
Young,  resolved :  "That  the  Bible  as  we  now  have  it,  in 
its  various  translations  and  versions,  when  freed  from  all 


540         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

errors  and  mistakes  of  translators,  copyists  and  printers, 
is  the  very  ivord  of  God,  and  consequently  without  error." 
{Minutes,  p.  i6p.)  The  reader,  perhaps,  will  ask  wherein 
does  the  above  deliverance  differ  in  idea  from  the  state- 
ment on  the  same  subject,  expressed  by  Dr.  Briggs,  when 
in  his  inaugural,  page  35,  he  says:  "These  errors  are  all 
in  the  circumstances  and  not  in  the  essentials;  they  are 
in  the  human  setting,  not  in  the  precious  jewel  itself" — 
that  is,  in  the  divine  revelation?  The  position  of  Dr. 
Briggs  on  the  inerrancy  of  the  Bible  was  the  outgrowth 
of  careful  and  reverent  study,  and  in  consequence  he 
came  to  the  same  conclusion  on  the  subject  years  before 
the  General  Assembly  of  1893  unanimously  made  the 
above  deliverance.  The  latter  body  in  this  "resolution" 
recognized,  mdirectly,  the  existing  discrepancies  in  the 
Bible,  and  determined  to  put  on  record  its  decision  in  re- 
spect to  them  in  terms  clear  and  definite. 

A  protest  was  presented  to  the  assembly  by  Dr.  E.  P. 
Sprague  of  Auburn,  New  York,  and  entered  upon  the 
Minutes  {pp.  772-^)  against  the  suspension  of  Dr.  Briggs. 
It  was  signed  by  sixty-two  members  of  that  body ;  among 
other  reasons  given  was  that  the  action  "seemed  to  abridge 
the  liberty  of  opinion  hitherto  enjoyed  under  our  stand- 
ards ...  as  tending  to  the  discouragement  of 
thorough  study  of  the  Bible  and  reverent  advance  in 
the  apprehension  of  divine  truth  ...  as  inflicting 
what  we  cannot  but  feel  is  an  injustice  to  a  Christian 
scholar  of  high  character  and  learning,  as  well  as  to  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York,  which  had  fully  acquitted  him 
of  the  charges  alleged  against  him." 

Misapprehensions. — Had  the  laity  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  well  as  those  of  other  denominations,  known 
the  fact  that  Dr.  Briggs  had  for  years  been  laboring  to 
remove  extraneous  matter  from  the  word  of  God,  and 
present  it  pure  in  its  sacred  contents,  which  he  charac- 


BRIGGS    TRIAL    CONTINUED.  54I 

terized  as  the  "precious  jewel/'their  minds  on  this  subject 
would  never  have  been  disturbed  as  represented.  Another 
phase  of  this  subject  ought  to  attract  the  attention  of 
church  members.  In  his  instructions  Dr.  Briggs  has  ever, 
when  occasion  required,  made  prominent  the  essential 
and  recognized  doctrines  of  the  standards  of  the  church. 
On  another  phase  of  the  subject  he  says:  "I  am  assured 
by  my  pupils  that  I  make  the  Bible  to  them  more  real, 
more  powerful,  more  divine.  I  have  never  heard  a  single 
one  of  the  thirteen  hundred  theological  students  I  have 
trained  in  the  last  twenty-six  years  who  has  said  that  I 
impaired  his  faith  in  Holy  Scripture." 

A  Review — Comments. — "It  is  beyond  question  that  he 
[Professor  Briggs]  knew  how  to  win  the  enthusiastic 
affection  of  his  pupils,  and  that  in  some  cases  he  had  been 
the  means  of  rescuing  young  men  from  a  profound  skep- 
ticism as  regards  the  Bible,  to  a  practical  faith  in  its 
authority."  {Vol.  VI.,  p.  265,  Church  Hist.  Series.)  On 
the  same  lines  of  sentiment  an  earnest  and  successful 
Western  Presbyterian  pastor,  though  prejudiced  by  cer- 
tain newspaper  rumors,  was  heard  to  say:  "Well,  after 
all,  there  must  be  something  in  that  man  Briggs;  I  never 
met  a  student  of  his  who  was  not  an  ardent  student  of 
the  Bible." 

"The  prosecution  was  conducted  with  distinguished 
ability  and  legal  acumen,  though  not  with  great  exegetical 
learning."  ...  In  his  reply  Professor  Briggs  showed 
his  superiority  in  a  professional  familiarity  with  the  sub- 
jects under  discussion,  and  was  unhappy  only  in  the  tone 
which  characterized  every  reference  to  the  prosecution 
and  the  assembly. 

"This  decision" — the  suspension  of  Dr.  Briggs — "lacks 
the  calm  of  the  judicial  temper.  It  is  pervaded  by  a  per- 
sonal animus  which  finds  an  outlet  in  many  of  its  phases, 
especially  in  the  conversion  of  the  charge  of  unsound 


542         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

teaching  into  one  of  personal  immorality,  and  in  making 
the  restoration  of  the  offender  dependent,  not  upon  his 
retraction  of  his  alleged  errors,  but  upon  his  'repentance' 
for  his  'sin.'  It  thus  affixes  a  stigma  to  the  accused, 
which  was  not  warranted  by  any  evidence  before  the  as- 
sembly, nor  embodied  in  any  of  the  charges  on  which  he 
was  tried."  (  Vol.  VI.,  Church  Hist.  Series,  pp.  266,  267, 
269.) 

The  Apparent  Outcome. — The  remembrance  of  these 
trials  and  many  of  the  incidents  connected  therewith  is 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  those  Presbyterians,  and  others, 
who  keep  themselves  in  touch  with  the  movements  within 
the  church.  As  a  portion  of  the  latter's  history  worthy 
of  being  noticed,  we  cite  two  instances  that  may  appear 
as  the  outcome  of  these  trials.  For  illustration,  the  prose- 
cuting committee  took  exception  to  "what  is  called  Biblical 
theology,"  being  used  "to  the  disparagement  of  system- 
atic theology,"  as  formulated  in  the  creeds  and  confes- 
sions of  the  church.  It  went  so  far  as  to  characterize 
"Biblical  theology  as  unscientific"  {The  Argument  of  Dr. 
Birch,  pp.  68,  69).  Prof.  Briggs  had  published  in  the 
Presbyterian  Review  in  1870  and  in  1872  his  views  in 
respect  to  the  method  of  studying  the  word  of  God,  which 
he  characterized  as  Biblical  theology. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  this,  in  a  measure,  new  departure 
in  the  curriculum  of  American  theological  seminaries  was 
adopted  by  Princeton  Seminary  in  establishinpf  a  profes- 
sorship of  "Biblical  Theology"  in  1893,  as  did  also  McCor- 
mick  Seminary  in  1894.  These  institutions  thus  recog- 
nized the  importance  of  that  scope  of  Biblical  instruction 
by  adopting  the  same  name  and,  it  is  presumed,  the  same 
methods. 

Union  Seminary  Independent  of  the  General  Assembly. 
— In  consequence  of  the  reunion  of  the  church  in  1870, 
after  several  preliminary  adjustments.  Union  Seminary, 


BRIGGS    TRIAL    CONTINUED.  543 

on  the  basis  of  a  certain  compact,  came  into  connection 
with  the  General  Assembly. 

The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Seminary  felt  deeply 
wronged  by  the  action  of  the  assembly  of  1891,  at  De- 
troit, in  refusing  to  sanction  the  transfer  of  Professor 
Briggs  to  another  chair  in  the  seminary,  contending  that 
a  transfer  was  not  an  appointment  nor  an  election,  and 
therefore  they  had  a  right  to  make  such  transfer  as  other 
seminaries  were  in  the  habit  of  doing  and  which  they 
themselves  had  often  done.  We  do  not  deem  it  expedient 
in  this  connection  to  trace  the  full  history  of  the  several 
conferences  held  by  committees  appointed  by  both  parties 
to  adjust  the  difficulties  that  arose  between  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  Directors  of  Union  Seminary,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  above  action  of  the  former,  but  refer  the 
reader  to  "Union  Theo.  Sem.,  p.  93,  and  Chap.  V.,  pp. 
255-280. 

The  Board  of  Directors,  however,  sent  a  memorial  on 
the  subject  to  the  assembly  of  1892  at  Portland,  Oregon. 
They  gave  their  reasons  in  full  pertaining  to  the  case, 
and  asked  "that  the  veto  power  conceded  to  the  General 
Assembly  in  1870  should  no  longer  reside  in  that  body." 
In  a  courteous  manner  the  memorial  urged  that  by  so 
doing  the  present  assembly  could  "restore  Union  Semi- 
nary to  its  former  relations  to  the  General  Assembly." 
To  this  memorial,  without  noticing  the  reasons  stated 
therein,  came  the  brief  answer:  "That  the  assembly  de- 
clines to  be  a  party  to  the  breaking  of  the  compact  with 
Union  Theological  Seminary." 

In  reply  to  this  answer  the  directors  subsequently  said : 
"There  is  no  provision,  whatever,  in  our  charter  or  consti- 
tution for  the  principle  of  synodical  or  assembly  supervis- 
ion." "Again,  after  investigation,  we  find  the  legal  con- 
sideration .  .  .  leaves  us  no  room  to  doubt  that 
under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  the  attempted 


544         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

agreement  of  1870  was  beyond  the  powers  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Seminary,"  We  "cannot  abdicate  any 
of  our  official  duties  in  whole  or  in  part."  "The  directors 
and  faculty  are  personally  bound  by  their  official  vow." 
We  express  "our  earnest  desire  for  the  restoration  of  our 
former  relations  to  the  General  Assembly."  The  outcome 
was  that  the  Board  of  Directors,  by  a  vote  of  nineteen  to 
one,  rescinded  the  resolution  or  compact  of  1870.  For 
this  act  on  the  part  of  the  directors  was  found  what  might 
be  termed  a  precedent  in  the  abrogation  in  1837,  of  the 
Plan  of  Union  by  the  General  Assembly,  alone,  without 
even  consulting  the  other  party  to  the  compact — the  Gen- 
eial  Association  of  Connecticut  (p.  j5p). 

The  assembly  of  1893  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  indicated 
the  relation  of  Union  Seminary  to  that  body  as  follows : 
"Because  of  the  attempt  by  the  Board  [of  Directors] 
and  on  its  own  motion  and  against  the  expressed  desire 
of  the  assembly,  to  abrogate  the  compact  of  1870,  the  as- 
sembly disavows  all  responsibility  for  the  teaching  of 
Union  Seminary,  and  declines  to  receive  any  report  from 
its  board."  Though  thus  cherishing  a  hope  and  promis- 
ing a  welcome,  should  the  seminary  return,  yet  afterward 
the  assembly  gave  notice  that  it  would  not  give  aid  to 
any  students  who  may  pursue  their  studies  in  a  seminary 
under  its  ban.  (Minutes  of  1890,  pp.  157,  161.)  "Union 
Seminary  was  founded  as  an  independent  seminary  upon 
its  own  charter,  owing  ecclesiastical  allegiance  as  an  in- 
stitution to  no  body  whatever.  .  .  .  There  is  no  spirit 
of  revolt  or  rebellion  behind  this  action,  but  a  serious, 
earnest,  profound  desire  to  be  faithful  to  obligations  as- 
sumed in  the  sight  of  God  and  men,  and  to  do,  without 
fear  or  favor,  what  conscience  dictated  in  obedience  to 
those  obligations"  {Professor  Francis  Brown,  on  the  floor 
of  the  assembly). 


LIII. 

Assemblies,  1894-1897. 

Assemblies,  i8p4-i8py. — The  General  Assembly  of  1894 
met  at  Saratoga  Springs  on  May  23d  of  that  year.  Rev. 
Dr.  Samuel  A.  Mutchmore  was  elected  moderator.  In 
course  of  a  correspondence  since  1875  {see  p.  48^),  over- 
tures had  been  made  in  respect  to  organic  union  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church  South.  In  answer  to  these  overtures 
a  telegram  was  received  at  Saratoga,  which,  after  wish- 
ing the  assembly  "Godspeed,"  said:  "We  regard  it  un- 
wise to  reopen  the  question  of  organic  union."  In  view  of 
this  statement,  the  assembly  resolved :  "That  while  this 
assembly  accepts  the  action  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States,  of  which  it  has  been  notified,  as 
sufficiently  indicating  the  wisdom  of  suspending  for  the 
present  everything  like  overtures  looking  to  a  union  with 
that  body,  it  desires  to  put  on  record  its  expression  of 
regret  for  such  suspension."     (Minutes  i8p4,  p.  140.) 

Case  of  Professor  Smith. — Professor  Henry  Preserved 
Smith  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary  published  a  pamph- 
let, entitled  "Biblical  Scholarship  and  Inspiration."  Ex- 
ception was  taken  by  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati  to 
certain  views  expressed  therein,  and  in  consequence  Pro- 
fessor Smith  was  brought  to  trial  and  suspended  by  a  vote 
of  thirty-one  to  tiventy-seven  from  the  ministry  (August, 
1892),  "until  he  renounces  his  errors  and  promises  no 
longer  to  teach  or  propagate  them."  The  following  July 
Professor  Smith  resigned  his  chair  in  the  seminary  and 
afterward,  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  the  Synod  of 


54^  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Ohio  approved  the  decision  of  the  presbytery,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  (1894)  the  General  Assembly,  in  session  at 
Saratoga,  also  approved  the  same  sentence. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1895  met  in  Pittsburg.  Dr. 
Robert  Russell  Booth  of  New  York  was  elected  mod- 
erator. The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Financial  Af- 
fairs said:  "We  are  sorry  to  note  that  the  debt  is  larger 
than  ever  before.  It  has  reached  the  portentious  amount 
in  round  numbers  of  $365,000."  The  sessions  of  the 
assembly  in  discussing  and  acting  upon  the  routine  busi- 
ness of  the  church  were  remarkably  harmonious.  A  spirit 
of  hopefulness  and  trust  seemed  to  pervade  the  entire 
assembly.  All  were  anxious  to  promote  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion by  having  the  church,  as  soon  as  possible,  relieved  of 
the  incubus  of  the  oppressive  debt. 

Comparison  of  Statistics. — We  may  obtain  a  fair  idea 
of  the  progress  of  the  church  by  comparing  its  statistics 
at  different  periods.  We  here  introduce  a  comparison  in 
order  to  ascertain  that  progress  during  ten  years.  Ac- 
cording to  the  minutes  of  the  respective  general  assem- 
blies we  find  in  those  of  1886  the  number  of  synods  was 
26;  presbyteries,  199;  ministers,  5546;  churches,  6281; 
admitted  on  examination,  51,177;  communicants,  661,889; 
attendance  of  Sabbath-school  scholars,  743,565 ;  and  total 
contributions,  $10,502,331.  In  1896,  synods,  31;  pres- 
byteries, 224;  ministers,  6942;  churches,  7573;  admitted 
on  examination,  64,806;  communicants,  943,716;  attend- 
ance of  Sabbath-school  scholars,  1,006,391 ;  and  total  con- 
tributions, $14,149,477.  In  this  connection  it  is  proper 
to  note  that  in  1893  a  universal  depression  in  the  indus- 
trial and  financial  affairs  of  the  country  began,  and  which 
had  not  come  to  an  end  in  1896. 

The  one  hundred  and  ninth  General  Assembly,  on  May 
20,  1897,  met  in  the  Winona  Assembly  Grounds,  Eagle 
Lake,  Indiana.     Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  was  elected 


ASSEMBLIES,    1894-1897.  547 

moderator,  and  the  Hon.  John  Wanamaker  vice-mod- 
erator. 

Increased  Contributions. — During  the  previous  eccle- 
siastical year  a  gradual  improvement  was  made  in  the 
industrial  and  commercial  interests  of  the  Nation,  and  in 
consequence  the  private  members  were  enabled  to  increase 
their  contributions  to  the  benevolent  institutions  of  the 
church.  The  reports  of  the  standing  committees  and  of 
the  secretaries  showed,  also,  an  increased  progress  in  the 
operations  of  all  the  boards  of  the  church.  It  was  re- 
ported that  during  the  past  year  (1896)  13,300  persons 
were  received  into  its  fellowship  by  our  home  mission- 
aries. 

The  followmg  is  a  summary  of  the  condition  of  the 
church  during  the  ecclesiastical  year  of  1896:  Synods, 
32;  presbyteries,  229;  ministers,  7129;  churches,  7631; 
added  on  examination,  57,011;  communicants,  990,911; 
Sunday-school  members,  1,024,462;  contributions,  $13,- 
298,151. 

The  Rule — Home  Missions. — This  assembly  adopted 
the  following  rule,  which  is  of  special  interest  to  the  theo- 
logical students  of  the  church,  and  also  indirectly  to  its 
private  members:  "Candidates  for  licensure  in  addition 
to  the  examination  required  by  Chap  XIV.,  Sec.  4,  of  the 
Form  of  Government  shall  be  diligently  examined  in  the 
English  Bible  and  shall  be  required  to  exhibit  a  good 
knowledge  of  its  contents  and  of  the  relation  of  its  sepa- 
rate parts  and  portions  to  each  other.  The  General  As- 
sembly further  directed  that  this  rule  shall  be  known  as 
Constitutional  Rule  No.  2,  and  shall  be  appended  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  Church.     {Minutes,  p.  up.) 

The  General  Assembly  took  action  in  respect  to  home 
missions  in  the  following  order:  "That  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  be  directed  to  reorganize  its  methods  of 
administration  that  the  executive  work  shall  be  placed  in 


548         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

charge  of  one  secretary,  with  whatever  assistants  may  be 
necessary,  and  that  he  be  accountable  to  the  board  for  its 
faithful  and  efficient  management."     (Min.,  p.  5(5.) 

Effect  for  Good  on  Two  Lines. — The  assembly  made 
declaration  that  it  had  "learned  with  profound  satisfac- 
tion" that  a  number  of  associations  of  the  secular  press 
had  "expressed  their  sympathy  with  the  women's  move- 
ment for  the  promotion  of  purity  in  literature  and  art,  as 
tending  to  maintain  a  Christian  standard  of  morality  in 
society;"  and  also  that  these  associations,  as  "the  best 
friends  of  humanity,"  had  pledged  themselves  to  exclude 
from  their  publications  "all  impure  advertisements." 
(Min.,  p.  84.) 

It  will  surely  not  be  deemed  out  of  place  by  the  Chris- 
tian patriot  to  notice  that,  while  the  General  Assembly 
was  in  session,  Congress  at  Washington  was  enacting, 
for  the  first  time  in  our  history,  a  financial  measure  in 
which  "all  persons  were  prohibited  from  importing  into 
the  United  States  from  any  foreign  country,  any  obscene 
book,  pamphlet,  advertisement"  [here  follows  a  long  enu- 
meration of  prohibited  articles]  "or  anything  of  an  im- 
moral nature."  {Tariff  of  iSgi^,  Schedule  N,  Sec.  10, 
under  6/2.) 

An  Eventful  Period. — During  the  thiee-fourths  of  the 
century  just  closing  (1899)  great  advances  were  made 
by  Christian  scholars  in  the  study  of  the  Bible,  while  the 
religious  knowledge  of  the  church  members  themselves 
were  meanwhile  proportionately  rising  to  a  higher  plane. 
The  elaborate  works  in  elucidation  of  the  Bible,  that  were 
published  in  Europe  and  America,  were  in  number  be- 
yond precedent.  Explorations,  meantime,  were  begun  and 
are  still  in  progress  in  the  Holy  Land,  in  Assyria,  and  in 
Egypt,  whose  findings  have  corroborated  the  historical 
statements  of  the  Bible,  wherever  the  latter  have  been 
touched  upon.     Within  this  period  came  the  Civil  War, 


ASSEMBLIES,     1 894- 1 89  7.  549 

with  its  demoralizing  effects  upon  the  spirituahty  of  the 
churches,  and  which  left  to  them  as  a  legacy  an  en- 
larged field  for  domestic  missions  in  the  form  of  the  re- 
ligious wants  of  the  freedmen.  The  division  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  also  took  place,  which  lasted  thirty-two 
years,  when  a  reunion  was  welcomed  by  all  its  members. 
Within  these  years  a  revision  of  the  English  version  of 
the  Bible  was  made,  on  which  learned  theologians  and 
linguists  of  England  and  the  United  States  labored  as- 
siduously, and  produced  the  most  perfect  translation  from 
the  original  tongues  of  the  Bible  that  was  ever  made  into 
English  or  any  modern  language.  This  revision  was  the 
occasion  of  creating  an  unusual  interest  in  the  Bible  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  also  in  the  other  Protest- 
ant denominations.  Meantime,  preliminary  measures  were 
introduced  by  the  General  Assembly  in  respect  to  a  re- 
vision of  the  Confession  of  Faith.  That  purpose  is  still 
held  in  abeyance ;  the  committee  having  reported  progress 
from  time  to  time. 

It  would  seem  as  if  designed  as  an  antidote  for  the  de- 
moralizing influence  of  the  Civil  War,  that  within  a  few 
years  after  its  close  a  new  impulse  for  studying  the  Bible 
was  given  the  children  and  youth  of  Protestant  parents. 
This  gift  was  the  introduction  of  the  International  Sun- 
day-school Lessons.  This  comprehensive  system  of  Bib- 
lical instruction  recognizes  the  Old  Testament,  and  gives 
it  due  attention,  as  the  forerunner  of  the  New.  The  inti- 
mate connection  with  the  contents  of  the  latter  of  the 
Old  Testament  history,  prophecies,  and  sublime  truths 
are  pointed  out  in  such  manner  as  to  impress  with  their 
importance  the  minds  of  these  youth. 

How  marvelous  has  been  the  blessed  and  stimulating 
influence  of  this  uniform  course  of  Bible  study;  beginning 
in  the  infant  class  and  systematically  carried  on  in  va- 
ried stages,  till  all  the  youth  are  reached.     One  grand 


550         A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

result  is  seen  in  the  societies  known  as  the  "Christian 
Endeavor.'^  These  associations  have  been  efficient  in- 
struments in  harmonizing  truly  Christian  sentiments  and 
in  uniting  the  youth  of  the  several  Protestant  denomina- 
tions in  religious  sympathy  one  with  another  throughout 
the  land,  and  in  promoting  a  spirit  of  a  Christianized  pa- 
triotism that  aids  in  cementing  a  national  friendship  in  all 
sections  of  the  Union.  This  good  influence  will  not  be 
limited,  alone,  to  the  young  people  of  this  generation,  for 
when  they  themselves  become  heads  of  families  they  will 
surely  train  their  children  up  to  a  still  higher  plane  of  a 
Christianized  civilization. 


LIV. 

Assemblies  of  1898- 1899. 

The  General  Assembly  met  in  its  one  hundred  and 
tenth  session  on  May  19,  1898,  in  the  auditorium  of  the 
Winona  Assembly  Grounds,  Winona  Lake,  Indiana. 

It  was  opened  by  a  sermon  by  the  retiring  moderator, 
Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  a  veteran  missionary 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Alaska.  The  Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  was  elected  mod- 
erator. The  Hon.  James  A.  Mount,  Governor  of  the  State 
of  Indiana,  made  an  appropriate  address  of  welcome  to 
the  assembly,  which  was  replied  to  by  the  moderator  in 
similar  terms. 

The  assembly  was  cheered  by  the  reports  concerning 
the  gradual  diminution  of  the  debt  that  had  been  retard- 
ing the  progress  of  the  church  since  1894,  and  by  the  pros- 
pect that  it  would  entirely  disappear  before  the  meeting  of 
the  assembly  in  1899. 

The  reports  of  the  respective  standing  committees  on 
the  numerous  enterprises  of  the  church  were,  upon  the 
whole,  encouraging.  The  sessions  of  the  assembly  were 
pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  harmony  among  the  members  that 
was  cheering  to  the  heart  of  brotherly  love.  Two  subjects 
that  pertain,  also,  to  the  outside  world  were  noticed.  The 
cause  of  temperance  received  a  hearty  commendation, 
while  the  increasing  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  in  certain 
portions  of  the  land  was  heartily  condemned,  and  the 
members  of  the  church  were  urged  most  earnestly  to  ob- 


552  A    HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

I 

serve  the  sacredness  of  the  day  as  a  boon  to  man,  since  it 
was  made  for  him. 

Overtures  on  the  subject  of  biennial  or  triennial  meet- 
ings of  the  General  Assembly  have  been  presented  occa- 
sionally to  that  body  for  a  number  of  years,  and  after  a 
brief  discussion  were  answered  in  accordance  with  recom-» 
mendation  of  the  committee,  that  no  action  be  taken.  To 
this  assembly  came  eight  overtures  on  the  subject,  and  it 
thought  proper  to  give  some  reasons  why  the  present  cus- 
tom of  annual  sessions  should  be  continued.  One  reason 
was  that  "our  system  of  administration  in  connection 
with  the  great  causes  of  missions  and  benevolence  has 
been  organized  upon  the  basis  of  the  annual  meetings  of 
the  assembly.  To  change  our  system  in  this  respect  would 
require  a  radical  change  in  the  plans  of  management  of 
the  several  boards.  .  .  .  The  assembly  constitutes 
the  bond  of  union,  peace,  correspondence,  and  mutual 
confidence  among  our  churches.  .  .  .  Our  system  of 
government  is  intended  among  other  things  to  conserve 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  every  minister  and  member 
of  the  church.  .  ,  .  The  proposed  change — to  a  tri- 
ennial meeting — would  of  necessity  involve  such  a  read- 
justment of  our  judicial  system  as  would  [virtually] 
deny  to  an  appellant  the  right  to  be  heard  by  the  whole 
church  .  .  .  such  a  denial  of  right,  when  conjoined  with 
a  proposed  grievous  delay  in  reaching  a  decision,  would 
be  contrary  to  both  justice  and  equity."  {Min.,  p.  131.) 
The  assembly  might  have  added  that  coming  together 
once  a  year  of  the  representative  men  of  the  church — min- 
isters and  elders — would  elicit  the  sympathy  of  the  in- 
telligent private  members  of  the  church  throughout  the 
Union  and  indirectly  cherish  a  patriotism  based  on  Chris- 
tian and  fraternal  principles. 

It  is  a  sad  feature  of  these  minutes  that  the  reports 
show  so  little  gain  to  the  membership  from  the  world  on 


ASSEMBLIES     OF     1898-1899.  553 

examination;  such  increase  was  only  thirty  persons  more 
than  were  recorded  of  1897;  while  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  adult  baptisms  was  only  twenty-two.  The  in- 
crease in  Sunday-school  attendance  was  nearly  ten  thou- 
sand, and  that  in  contributions  was  $205,410;  admitted  on 
examination,  57,041 ;  number  of  communicants,  975,877. 
The  General  Assembly  of  i8pp. — Met  in  its  one  hun- 
dred and  eleventh  year  on  the  i8th  of  May,  1899,  in  the 
city  of  Minneapolis.  It  was  opened  in  the  usual  manner 
by  the  retiring  moderator,  Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  D.D., 
of  Washington,  D.  C.  The  Rev.  Robert  F.  Sample,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  was  elected  mod- 
erator. Dr.  Sample  appointed  Dr.  Loyal  Y.  Graham  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  vice-moderator. 

The  assembly  entered  upon  its  labors  with  hearts  full 
of  gratitude,  that  in  the  providence  of  God,  the  boards  of 
the  church  were  no  longer  trammeled  in  their  work  by  a 
debt  which  had  been  an  incumbrance  since  the  session  of 
1894. 

This  assembly  of  624  members  in  attendance  was  noted 
for  being  composed  of  an  unusually  large  number  of  regu- 
lar pastors  and  of  elders  who  were  deeply  and  intelli- 
gently interested  in  all  the  works  of  the  church.  The 
several  discussions  showed,  incidentally,  no  lack  of  the 
power  of  debate  and  of  comprehensive  views  on  the  vari- 
ous phases  of  the  ecclesiastical  matters  that  came  before 
the  assembly.  The  session  was  comparatively  a  short  one, 
the  members  being  remarkably  harmonious  in  their  action 
upon  the  measures  that  demanded  their  earnest  attention. 
A  hopeful  missionary  spirit  seemed  to  pervade  the  entire 
body.  It  put  on  record  its  steadfast  adherence  to  the 
fundamental  and  evangelical  doctrines  of  the  gospel  as 
derived  from  Holy  Scripture  and  embodied  in  the  stand- 
ards of  the  church. 

A  most  cheering  feature  of  the  narrative  of  the  state 
37 


554  A     HISTORY     OF     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

of  religion  in  the  church  presented  to  the  assembly  was 
the  manifest  increased  interest  in  the  systematic  study  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  especially  by  the  young  people  of  the 
church  in  Bible  classes  and  Sunday-schools.  The  good 
work  of  the  women  of  the  church  was  shown  to  be  effect- 
ive and  followed  by  the  blessing  of  the  Master.  The  at- 
tention of  pastors  and  sessions  and  presbyteries  was  di- 
rected to  their  respective  duties  to  foster  and  encourage 
and  keep  in  sympathy  with  the  young  people's  organiza- 
tions within  their  bounds. 

When  compared  with  the  reports  in  the  minutes  of  the 
previous  year  it  found  that  the  number  admitted  to  the 
church  on  examination  was  8782  less  than  in  1898 — why 
this  decrease  the  members  of  the  whole  church  may  well 
inquire.  The  number  of  communicants  was  increased 
by  8030,  and  the  contributions  by  $274,156.  The  as- 
sembly dissolved  to  meet  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  on  the 
third  Thursday  of  May,  1900. 

Patriots — Both  Citizen  and  Christian. — The  progress  of 
the  church  is  indicated  by  its  statistics.  These  include  its 
appropriate  religious  work,  the  latter's  success  or  other- 
wise, and  as  a  means  thereto  its  financial  condition  must 
be  good.  The  last  mentioned  element  of  success  is  in  this 
day  essential,  and  how  to  secure  it  is  well  worthy  the  at- 
tention of  church  members  of  every  denomination  as 
Christian  citizens  as  well  as  patriots,  since  monetary  af- 
fairs are  so  liable  to  be  affected  by  political  measures.  The 
financial  and  industrial  policies  of  the  general  govern- 
ment extend  their  influence  throughout  the  land,  and 
are,  therefore,  a  great  power  for  evil  or  for  good  in  re- 
spect to  the  support  of  the  institutions  of  the  church,  thus 
indirectly  promoting  or  retarding  its  legitimate  opera- 
tions. Unfortuntely,  in  our  time,  too  many  intelligent 
Christians  of  the  different  denominations  are  quite  often 
derelict  as  citizens  in  not  fully  realizing  that  it  is  their 


ASSEMBLIES     OF     1898-1899.  555 

duty  to  inform  themselves  in  relation  to  the  financial  and 
kindred  measures  of  the  government,  in  order  that  they 
may  vote  intelligently  should  there  be  mismanagement  in 
consequence  of  incompetent  men  being  in  control  of  pub- 
lic affairs.  Much  more  is  it  incumbent  upon  all  the  citi- 
zens to  rouse  themselves  to  counteract  the  evil.  Church 
members  should  recognize  their  obligations  to  the  country, 
as  citizens  and  patriots,  and  never  shirk  the  responsibility 
which  rests  upon  them  in  proportion  to  their  influence — 
be  it  great  or  small. 

It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  the  financial  policy  of  the 
National  Government  always  affects  more  or  less  the  vari- 
ous industries  of  the  people,  thus  indirectly  retarding  or 
promoting  the  progress  of  the  church,  especially  in  its 
benevolent  operations.  For  illustration,  the  reports  to  the 
General  Assembly  in  a  certain  year  really  contain  the  re- 
sults of  the  one  immediately  preceding;  thus  the  report 
of  the  total  contributions  credited  to  the  year  1893,  in 
truth,  were  those  of  1892.  The  amount  contributed, 
though  credited  to  1893,  was  the  largest  ever  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Strange  to  say, 
the  following  year  (1893)  the  amount  contributed  fell  off 
nearly  one  million  dollars,  as  told  in  the  reports  of  1894, 
and  in  consequence  all  the  boards  of  the  church  were  over- 
whelmed with  debt.  The  managers  of  the  latter  had 
based,  and  that  reasonably,  their  financial  estimates  on 
the  contributions  of  1892,  and  in  a  proportionate  ratio 
had  extended  their  operations. 

A  similar  result  was  produced  in  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree in  the  contributions  of  the  churches  of  all  the  other 
denominations  in  the  Union.  In  this  instance  a  depres- 
sion in  almost  every  industry  prevailed,  a  lowering  of 
wages,  and  likewise  a  lack  of  opportunity  for  employment, 
and  in  consequence  an  unusual  diminution  of  incomes. 
Such  facts  indicate  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  members  of 


556  A     HISTORY    OF    THE    PRESBYTERIAN     CHURCH. 

the  churches  of  all  denominations,  as  Christians  and  pa- 
triotic citizens,  not  to  shirk  their  responsibility,  but  con- 
scientiously make  it  an  object  to  inform  themselves  in  re- 
spect to  what  may  be  the  present  or  prospective  political 
and  financial  policies  of  the  Nation,  in  order  they  may 
vote  intelligently.  Let  all  church  members  of  the  various 
denominations  promote  a  Christianized  patriotism,  whose 
principles  permeate  the  people  at  large. 


INDEX. 


Abbreviated  Creeds,  457. 
Adams,  William,  500. 
Accessions  from  Other  Bodies,  301. 
Act  and  Testimony,  420,  421,  424. 
Adopting:  Act,  ii-?,  114. 
Allen.  William,  285,  286. 
Alexander,  Archibald,  129,  250,  337. 

"  James  W.  and  Addison, 

SSI- 
American  B'd  of  Mes.,  342,  343. 
Andros,  Gov.,  75. 
Apostolic  Succession,  24-26,  52,  59, 

64. 
Assembly,  Gen.  (Scotland),  40. 

"  Westminster,  50-58. 

"         General  Constituted,  207, 
240. 
Assembly,  Ratio  of  Representatives, 

351- 
Assembly,  Triennial,  etc.,  477,  478. 
Association,    Gen.,  of    Conn.,    237, 

4.^3,  435.  441,  442. 
Association,  Missionary  Amer. ,  469. 

Badger,  Joseph,  232,  295,  297. 
Balch,  Hezekiah,  135,  216. 
Baltimore,  Lord,  78. 
Baker,  Daniel,  276,  277,  505,  507. 
Baptists,  107,  177,  186,  187. 
Barnes,  Albert,  399. 

"       Trials,  400-405,  406,  415. 
Barr,  Thomas,  294. 
Beall,  Ninian,  Colonel  (Elder),  80. 
Beecher,  Lyman,  244,  268,  320,  395, 

415,  448. 
Beliefs,  Harmony  of,  34. 
Beman,  N.  S.  S.,  448,  451. 
Berkeley,  Sir,  Wm.,  77,  169. 
Bible,  Translations  of,  10,  45. 
Bishops,  3,  17,  23,  40. 

"        Romanizing-,  33,  36,  64,  99. 

"        Genuine,  bo. 
Blackburn,  Gideon,  221,  327,  336,  363. 
Booth,  Robert  R.,  546. 
Bray,  Thomas,  94,  95. 
Breckinridge,    Robert  J.,   422,    436, 

439.  502. 
Bribery  and  Trickery,  loi. 
Brown,  Prof.  Francis,  544. 
"       Matthew,  134,  324,  325. 


Brigg,  Charles  Augustus,  Trials  of 
5"-S42. 

Caldwell,  John,  137. 
Calvin,  John,  7,  16,  30,  32. 
Campbell,  Col.  (Elder),  145. 
Camp  Meetings,  228,  347. 
Carnahan,  James,  282,  283. 
Carrick,  Samuel,  219,  221,  332. 
Cavaliers,  77,  162,  196,  218. 
Chamberlain,  Jeremiah,  374. 
Church,  Rom,  Catholic,  13,  213. 
"        Gov.  of,  15,  16,  63. 
"        ist  in  Cincinnati,  291. 
"        ist  New  Orleans,  315. 
"        Culdee,  The,  43-45. 
"        Primitive,    Self-Supporting, 
28,  29. 
Church,  Migrating,  A,  276,  334. 
"        1st  Founded  in  Tenn.,  220. 
"        Separated   from    the   State, 
Va.,  159,  175-190. 
Church,    Freedom    from    Clannish- 

ness,  165. 
Church  and  State,  6,  28,  30,  171. 
"        Congregational,  70,  71,   89, 
156,  240,  481,  483. 
Church  of  Special  Interest,  370. 
"      of  England,  Established,  171. 
"        Rates  How  Levied,  143,  164, 
171. 
Cincinnati  Founded,  290. 
Civil  Court  Trials,  454,  455. 
Colleges  (Log),    iii,   117,    118,    127- 

136. 
Colldges,  Princeton,  118,  130;  Jeffer- 
son, 133;  Washington,  132,  S. 
Hanover,  3-9;  Maryville,  333; 
Center,  336 ;  Blackburn  Unv. ,  363. 
Colony,  Virginia,  68. 

"       Plymouth,  68. 
Commotions,  Civil  (in  England),  59. 
Committee,    Ad   Interim,   459,    466, 

478. 
Committee,  Church  Extension,  467. 
"  Standing,  242. 

"  Publication,  Pres.,  467. 

"  on  Reunion,  483. 

Committeemen,  386,  388,  446. 
Confessions  of  Faith,  31,  33-35. 


558 


INDEX. 


Confessions,  Westminster,  55-59. 

''  Revision  Desired,  491. 

Co-operation,  Difficulties  of,  467,  474. 
Cornbury,  Lord,  96,  100,  loi. 
Cornelius,  Elias,  339,  341. 
Contrast  in  Creeds  and   Discipline, 

384,  385- 
Conventions,  Called,  422,  423,   431, 

43  V  436,  448. 
Conventions,    Congregational,    478, 

481. 
Cox,  Samuel  Hanson,  448. 
Craig,  John,  153. 
"      Prof.,  536. 
Craighead,  Alexander,  144. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  38,  6i,  62,  64,  70. 
Cummings,  Charles,  216. 
Cutler,  Manassah,  289. 

Davies,  Samuel,  118,  140,  168,  171. 
Dean,  Milman  (quoted),  26. 

"       Stanley  (quoted),  26,  496. 
Denton,  Richard,  73. 
Derrow,  Nathan  B.,  356. 
Despotism,  Ecclesiastical,  213. 
Detroit,  Religions,  etc.,  375. 
Dickey,  J.  M.  (Father),  355,  356. 
Dickinson,  Baxter,  434,  457. 

"         Jonathan,  115,  117,  118. 
Difficulties,    Attending    Assemblies, 

443.  444- 
Dissenters,    77,    99,    161,    179,    184, 

185,  189,  191,  194. 
Divine  Right  for  Ch.  Gov.,  62,  63. 
Doak,  Samuel,  135. 
Doughty,  Francis,  72,  81. 
Duelling,  268. 
Duffield,  George,  408. 
Durand,  Wm.  (Elder),  80. 
Dutch  Liberality,  72,  74. 

Education,     Ministerial,     166,     17a, 

2663,303. 
Education,  Funds  for,  119. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  1^17160. 
Elders,  2,  4,  12. 
Eldership  Introduced,  97. 
Elective  Affinity,  401,  424. 
Elliott,  David,  434,  450. 
Ellis,  J.  M.,  361,  362. 
Ely,  Ezra  Stiles,  254,  366. 
Emigrations  to  Colonies,  66. 
Englishmen's  Rights,  9,  11. 
Episcopalians,  177,  183,  184. 
Errors  in  Doctrine,  436. 
"      Acted  Upon,  441. 
Estimate,  Appreciative,  An,  263. 
Evangelists,  504. 
Exiles  to  Geneva,  16. 
Ex-officio  Members,  211. 


Ex-officio,  Action  of,  343;  the  Effect, 

387- 
"  the  Principal  of,  237,  391, 

424,  434.  441 1  459- 

Faith,  Confessions  of,  31,  34,  35. 
"      Westminster,  55-59.  / 

"      Guarding  the,  112,  114,  210.  ^ 

Finley,  Robert,  251,  252,  281. 
"      James,  261. 

Finney,  Chas.  S.,  395,  417. 

Fisher,  Samuel,  451. 

Fletcher,  Gov.,  104. 

Flint,  Timothy,  367,  371,  373. 

Force,  Religious,  A,  27,  33. 

Foreign  Miss.  Soc,  Western,  3S9. 

Fowler,  Orin,  357. 

Fraternal  Intercourse,  ic8. 

Frelinghugsen,  Jacob,  150,  151. 

Froude  (quoted),  no. 

Gelston,  James,  139. 
Giddings,  Salmon,  367,  369,  370,  372. 
Gillet,  E.  H.,  153. 
Gloucester,  John,  336,  337. 
Gooch,  Gov.,  125,  137,  142,  153, 
Graham,  Wm.,  129. 
Griffen,  Edw.  D.,  234,  250. 
Green,   Ashbel,   250,    393,   399,  400, 
409,  422. 

Hall,  Jas.  W.,  278. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  268. 
Harrison,  Thomas,  79. 
Henderson,  Robert,  216,  221. 
Henry  VIII.,  13,  14,  31. 
Heroic  Age,  The,  33. 
Herron,  Francis,  271,  272. 
Hill,  Matt,  81. 
Hodge,  Charles,  165,  499. 
Hoge,  Moses,  257,  273,  407. 
Holmes,  Abiel,  276. 
Hubbard,  John,  100. 
Hughes,  Thomas  E.,  290. 
Huntsville,  Ch.  of,  315. 

Immigration,  287,  299. 

"  of  Farmers,  356. 

Immigrants,  Character  of,  384. 
Independents,  Unorganized,  37. 
Indians  Removed,  329. 

"       Missions  to,  327,  328. 
Influence,  Leading  Points  of,  119. 

"         Retarding,  217. 
Infidelity,  Type  of,  221. 
Inglis,  James,  281.  / 

Injudicious  ordinations,  397. 
Instructions  Transcended,  427. 
Intolerance,  161. 


INDEX. 


559 


James,  King:,  3S,  39- 

"       His  Motto,  41,  42. 
Jacobus,  M.  W.,  407. 
Janeway,  Jacob  J.,  252. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,    177,    181,    190, 

191,  192,  225. 
Junkin,  George,  402-404,  422. 
Jus  Divinum,  29. 

Knox,  John,  17,  31,  40. 

Laird,  Robert  M.,  377. 

Landholding:s,  76. 

Lamphier,  Jeremiah,  470. 

Larned,  Silvester,  339. 

Laud,  Bishop,  The,  51. 

Law  Misapplied,  104. 

Leag^ue  and  Covenant,  46,  51,  52. 

Lindsley,  Philip,  315,  497-499. 

Little,  Henry,  507-510. 

Luther,  Martin,  27. 

Magna  Charta,  9. 
Magill,  Daniel,  138. 
Makemie,  Francis,  82,  84. 

"         Trial,  86,  87,  93,  317. 
Marietta  Settled,  288,  2S9. 
Marquis,  Thomas,  233,  260,  261. 
Mason,  John  M.,  268,  389,  390. 
Marion,  Francis,  Gen.,  145. 
Mary,  Bloody,  32. 
Matthews,  John,  319,  373,  374. 
Mechlenberg  Declaration,  173. 
Meetings,  Camp,  228. 
Memorial,  Cincinnati,  398,  419,  420. 
Methodism,  150,  177. 
Monteith,  John,  376. 
Morals,  Clencal,  169. 
Moravians,  149. 

Morgan,  Daniel,  Gen.  (Elder),  145. 
Morse,  Jedekiah,  276,  377. 
McCurdy,  Elisha,  231,  232. 
McCorcle,  S.  E.,  278. 
McGready,  James,  224,  228. 
McMillan,  John,   133,  233,  258,  282, 

324- 
McLane,  Wm.  W.,  336. 
McNish,  Geo.,  93,  101. 
McWhin,  316. 
Migrations,  Lines  of,  256. 

"  on  Reason  for,  371. 

Mills,  Samuel  J.,  368. 
Missions,  Interest  in,  237. 

"         Funds  for,  107. 

"         Board  of,  302,  387,  453. 

"        American  B'd,  342,  380. 

'_'         Home,  353,  382. 
Missionary  Areas  Compared,  383. 

Names,  Significant,  19. 
Nevins,  William,  2S0. 
Nettleton,  Asahel,  349,  395,  417. 


New  Measures,  394. 

Old  Side,  New  Side,   152,    153,    154, 

156,  157- 
Old  School,  New  School,  458. 
Opinions,  Change  of,  424. 
Orders,  Voting  by,  212. 

Parity  of  the  Ministry,  18,  21,  23,  29, 

51,66. 
Parties,  The  Two,  32. 
Pastor,  The  Term,  19. 
Patriotism,  192,  198,  214. 
Patterson,  James,  254,  255. 
"  Robert  M.,  154. 

Patton,  William,  450. 
People,  The,  a  Voice  on  Ch.  Gov.,  n. 
Perrine,  M.  L.  R.,  247. 
Persecutors,  Non,  The,  21. 
Persecutions  and  Trials,  52. 
Peters,  Absalom,  437. 
Pickens,  Gen.,  145. 
Pietists,  The,  149,  150. 
Plan  of  Union,  238,  240,  424,  439. 

"  "         Abrogated,  436, 481. 

Plumer,  Wm.  S.,  436,  437,  452. 
Pope,  The,  A  Presbyter,  24. 
Population,  Center  of,  319,  320. 
Porter,  Samuel,  259. 
Power,  James,  260. 
Prayer,  Free,  33. 

"       Meetings,  272,  277,  300. 
Prelatical  Ch.  Gov.,  7,  15,  20. 
Prelates,  Why  Feared,  50. 
Presbytery,  ist  (in  England),  36,  37. 
"  Hanover,  175,  178,  182, 

184,  188. 
Presbytery,  Redstone,  206;  Transyl- 
vania, 206,  215;  Abingdon,  214; 
S.  Carolina,  88;  Cumberland, 
230;  First  Philadelphia,  91,  92, 
(in  1706),  98;  New  York,  72;  The 
Third  of,  410;  Philadelphia, 
Second,  402;  Ohio,  134;  Erie, 
297 ;  Detroit,  378. 
Presbyterians,  Origin  of,  in  Va.,  121- 

126. 
Presbyterians,  The  Name,  125. 
"  Why  Liberal,  70. 

"  in  l\Iaine,  116. 

"  in  N.  J.  and  Del.,  87. 

Prime,  Ebenezer,  157. 
Principle,  A  Great,  Established,  173, 

174. 
Principle,    Voluntary,    Influence   of, 

194. 
Procter,  David  C,  358. 
Puritanism,  A  Religious  Force,  27,  33. 
Puritans,  41. 

"        in  Virginia,  65,  68. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  15,  30,  32. 


560 

Quakers,  177,  181,  rS6,  200. 

Ralston,  Samuel,  261. 
Reading  House,  Morris',  122,  125. 
Rector,  1  he  Term,  20,  21. 
Reed,  Isaac,  359,  360. 
Religion,  How  Promoted,  274 

"        in  Towns  on  the  Mississip- 
pi, 340. 
Reserve,  Western,  283.  293, 
Responsibility,  Partial,  22,  159. 

"  Individual,   161,    180, 

185.  193.  344,  380,  387,  459,  466. 

Resumption    of    Specie    Payments, 

488. 
Reunion,  The,  155. 

"         (2nd),  480-485. 
' '         Basis  of,  484. 
Revival,  Great,  The,  224-229. 
"        in  Colleges,  305. 
"        Effects  of,  242. 
"        in  the  South,  273. 
"         Numerous,  345-348. 
"        of  1857,  469. 
Rice,  David  (Father),  214,  227,  291. 

"     John  Holt,  257,  344,  394- 
Richards,  James,  318,  448. 
Robinson,  Edward,  493-497. 

"  William,  139. 

Rodgers,  John,  141,  208,  245. 
Romeyn,  John  Broadhead,  247,  248. 
Royce,  Samuel,  340,  341. 

Sabbath,  Influence  of,  46. 
"        Continental,  48. 
"         Desecration  of,  ai8,  367. 
"         Mails  (Sunday),  349,  350. 
"         Respected,  486. 
Schools,  Classical,  130,  131. 
Secession  of  Synods,  469. 
Sevier,  Col.  (Elder),  145,  146. 
Seminaries,     Theological,     Auburn, 
318;  Lane,  328;  Maryville,  322; 
Princeton,  250;  S.  Hanover,  319; 
Union,  Virginia,  323;  Union,  N. 
Y.  City,  428,  429;  Western,  319. 
Shedd,  Wm.  G.  T.,  503,  504. 
Shelby,  Col.  (Elder),  145,  146. 
Skinner,  Thomas  H.,  253,  254. 
Skelton,  Samuel,  69. 
Slavery,  444,  452,  466. 
Smith,  S.  Stanhope,  128. 
"      John  Blair,  238. 
"      Jo-eph,  132. 
"       Henry  Boynton,  501,  502. 
Society,  Missionary,  The  First,  94. 
•'        For  P.  G.  F.  Parts,  94. 


INDEX 


Society,  National,  Formed,  265. 
Society's  Educational,  266,  341,  387. 
Society,  Irresponsibility  of,  386,  433. 
Spring,  Gardiner,  248,  249,  472. 
Sports,  Bcok  of,  40. 
Statements,  Misleading,  426. 
Stephenson,  Jas.  W.,  334,  335. 
Stobo,  Archibald,  89,  93.  y' 

Study  on  Two  Lines,  134.  X 

Subscription,  Strict,  114,  116. 
Succession,  Apostolic,  24. 
Sunday  School  Scholars,  488. 
St.  Louis,  Religious  Character,  367. 
Synod,  Constituted,  107. 
Synods,  Consolidated,  486. 

Taggart,  Samuel,  246. 
Taylor,  Nathaniel  L.  W.,  393,  394. 
Temperance,  244,  307. 
Tennent,  William,  no,  in. 

"        Gilbert,  118. 
Toleration  Act,  75,  124,  142,  167,  168. 
Test  and  Schism  Act,  109. 
Thomson,  John,  115. 
Training  a  Household,  52. 

"        a  Nation,  195. 
Translations  of  the  Bible,  10. 
Trials  and  Persecutions,  52. 
Tyndale,  William,  10,  11. 

Union  of  Church  and  State,  6,  28,  30. 
"      Separation  of,  175-194. 
"       Meetings,  171,  277. 

Vesey,  William,  loi,  102,  103. 
Vagrants  (Clerical),  162. 

War  (1813),  Effects  of,  300. 
Washington,  George,  204,  208. 
Wesley,  John  and  Charles,  35,  149. 
Whitney,  Eli,  140. 
Whitefield,  George,  149,  151. 
Wick,  William,  294. 
Williams,  Roger,  21,  22. 
Witherspoon,  John,  208. 
Wilson,  James  P.,  252. 

"        Joshua   L.,   292,    346,    409, 
412,  414,  422,  456. 
Woman's  Self-denying  Labors,    297, 

37S- 
Woman's  Work,  485. 
Woods,  Leonard,  393,  463. 
Worthies,  Pres'oyterian,  Sec.  XXVI., 

XXVII.,  and  L. 
Wyclif,  John,  9,  34. 


Date  Due 


F   27  "39 


Jm  3  rcf 


,'TT>»w^  ii«.;i,itiigf3,»fimi-sg^:,  - 


j^-^ 


•i/F; 


t^r  2-  '^■ 


fi 


"S"^? — ^^ 


HY  iQ'51 


MY2o-^,?-, 


mP 


',pp  *?  f  ^ 


